So I'malittle fucked up! But ere is an updae. things withGregand me are done for the most part. He showed a little crazy and I had to cross the street. Iam just getting home froma night wit Olivia, tom, tavis and friends. It was great and so what I needed!!!!!!!!!! UUUUMMMM BLESSSSUM!

So my friend Olivia, one of the most fabulous women I've ever met! Asked that I go the Jimmy Choo in Aladdin and take a picture of the shoes. This is the friend that is working on tickets for Siccor Sister! Gotta love her.

I take it all back.... It actually posted. Thank GOD!

Ok so it is official... I hate live journal. I've been typing about my vegas trip for hours... One wrong stroke of the key pad (backspace key) and it is all gone. BASTARDS!!!

So I am off to Vegas with Tom and Jason on Monday, February 19th thru Friday the 23rd. Here are a few things I want to do...

-Studio 24 at MGM
-Helicopter over the strip sipping Champange
-The Wynn, maybe see Le Reve
-Luxor- gotta ride the elevators that go sideways. Tomb and Museums of King Tutankhamun.
-Macy's- Gotta get the 11% discount.
-The Venetian- I hear there is a new Martini Bar and I want to see the canal. As well as the large open painted rooms. Also want to se the big jewlery store that Kosta used to (I think he doesn't sell there anymore) sell jewelry in. Madame Tussauds Museum
-NYNY- Manhattan Express Roller Coaster Baby!!! on the tip top.
-House of Blues- if only I was going to be there for brunchon Sunday!
-Bellagio- "O"- Cirque de Soleil. God please let me be able to get tickets, The fountain at night. Gallery of Fine Art.
-The Mirage- Danny Gans, one the the worlds best impersonater (sorry but not drag). Siegfried and Poy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat
-Stratosphere- The "Needle" throw me 160 feet to the tallest point in Vegas!Dinner at Alize
Tropicana- Bodies- see the human body on display. Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.
-Star Trek: THe Experience- This is for Tom. Las Vegas Hilton
-
The Following are a list of Gay venues, HAHAHAHA:
-Charlies Las Vegas
-The Eagle
-Ramrod, please don't hate me Tom!
-FreeZone, could this be where the title of Janet's song "Freezone" comes from?

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond
measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most
frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is
nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people
won't feel insecure about you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to manifest
the glory of God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give
other people permission to do the same. As we are
liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.


-Marianne Williamson

Here is December 24, 2006:

We started with an excellent breakfast, which I am noticing that Colombians do well every morning, of an Egg tortia with corn, tomato, and green onions, bread and instant hot chocolate (very different from Colombian chocolate!). When then went out to Ferry Pier which had some incredible shops! I told Paola several times I hated her for bringing me there. Stefan says "Gelato, good gelato", a band, a ferry, the sounds of seals, a hobo with a radio wanting money, 2 big statues of ladies made of iron (picture to follow), olive oil tasting, an arrow in the ground (again, pic to follow). We then drive through little Italy and went to Little China (both the touristy one and the non touristy one). Side note... we saw traffic for the San Francisco 49ers trip and we drive Giant's stadium. We went to Coit Town on Temple hill which had a great view of the city and Alcatraz. China town was fun, Paola bought some jewelry we had a great mean at R & G Lounge, to stave off hunger for our late Colombian Christmas Dinner- which was awesome! It was the first time I had been in a true up scale Chinese restaurant, yep they had shark fin soup. The meal was so good we made reservations for dinner on Christmas day (can you say "A Christmas Story"? We then returned home to prepare for the Colombian Christmas.

At about 10PM we sat down for a dinner of tamales (which they had specially made in Miami) Colombian hot Chocolate (which has mozzarella cheese in it), Chalah (pronounced holla- ya think Ellen had some?) which we dipped in the chocolate, finally we dined on cheesy bread rolls (may I only be able to have them when I am with Pao's family because they are so good and so bad!). This meal was carbo heaven. after talking and eating, eating and talking we finally decided to hit the presents... Paola gave me the perfect scarf and hat, kind of moss green- love it! SO apparently the family decided that it was a camera perfume year because there were several of both! Raff and Indrani gave me a card addressed to Ron Jensen (can't forget Shmitty!) They are so cute. It took us a while to get it together but I think we were all in bed around 2:30AM or so.

We awake this morning to Raff and Indrani starting the next bath of tamales and we proceeded to have the identical meal from the night before- oh so good! We did add focaccia to the mix which everyone seemed to like. We then went Muir Wood National Forest, which is a hug Red Wood/ Sequoia forrest. It was beautiful!!! I've never witnessed anything like it before. The air was fresh and revitalizing. I could have gotten lost there. Took several pics with Stefan which will be on here at some point. We then drove back into the city and went down Lombard Street- the s curve street. We then went to the R & G Lounge for an excellent dinner. Where we were joined my Pao's friend Matt, who is taking me to the airport tomorrow. Pao has an infusion and the family is going to Carmel.

So today's entry was quick and dirty but I think I've captured everything. I'm flying back to Virgini tomorrow morning after coffee with Matt. Hoping the flights are as good tomorrow as they were coming out.

Today started slow with Colombian Milk Soup. Which was very tasty! It is a soup made of butter, garlic, tomato, green onion, stale bread, and egg. I was a little worried at first but it was warm and rich! We then departed for Napa Valley! Now it was not until this morning that I realized that I was going to see/ go on the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE!!!! I was suddenly 10 again with a big cheese grin. Raff took pictures which will be on here later. I also was able to see Alcatraz.. This was funny because Cindy had commented about rarely being able to see Alcatraz from the bridge, or so her mom said but she has always seen it. Today I also saw it clearly!!! So this was just crazy good times. We then continued on to Napa. What a beautiful drive. Oh wait. Paola took us on Route 1 which is the old coastal way to get to the Golden Gate. It was amazing!! I got to see the Pacific Ocean, surfers, beautiful tree farms and houses. hhmmm what a great moment. I am really falling in love with Northern California.

So Napa: The first vineyard we stopped at was V. Sattui, (vsattui.com) which had good wine though the picnic we had there was better than the wine. Duck pate, fresh cream cheese with garlic and artichokes, salami's and other meats, butter nut squash soup, fresh wheat and french bread, Cabernet Sav. and Chardonnay. Tasty! When then tried to go to the Coppola Vineyard but they wanted $25 per person and we only had 30 minutes. So we went to Beringer which had GREAT wine! I was so impressed that I that I joined their wine club which means 2 bottles every 2 months...I can't wait!

We then went to Union Station in downtown San Francisco. Great shopping. Stefan and I went to Tiffany and Company where I cam close to buying the 18kt yellow gold Atlas ring and bracelet. Oh my god it was awesome and looking sweet on me. But there are many other things that I could spend that money on. Trying to be responsible. So Paola and I decided that when I meet my weight goals and have everything complete that I will look into this again. Paola and everyone then had hot dogs from one of the vendors in front of the largest Macy's I'm ever seen. Which had a HUGE tree diplace facing the Union Station Plaza. There was also a big Old Navy that I eyed pretty hard!

Tomorrow looks to be another promising day full of sight seeing and family time with my new family. Paola's Mom adopted me today, I love them- all of them. They are so loving. Alfred said I have to come I Miami next year! I think I'm there! Off to sleep I go. uummm blessum

So Friday ended up being awesome. So I went shopping at Macy's, that's right the once upon a time fat kid went shopping at Macy's for himself! It was to surreal!. Paola assisted me in buying t black jackets, one I can wear to work and court and another that I can is more casual and I can wear out. I was bought 2 sweaters and here is the big thing.... a man bag, LOL. It's black leather by some designer in europe, though I didn't check the tag to see exactly where it was made, hopefully not too many children had to help. So the total for everything was about $500 but with all the discounts and opening a Macy's card I got the price down to $240, oh yeah! we then drove through Stanford and looked at the beautiful campus, and I do mean beautiful. The main street into campus is lined with palm trees. Though I did notice that the topography here is not as wildly different as I thought it would be, Paola said that Southern California would be a more extreme difference. We then drove through Palo Alto on our way home, which looked like an interesting shopping experience. Little did I know that we would return there for dinner and to do some window shopping. We had an excellent Mediterranean dinner, of course I had lamb. We stopped in two stores. One that was a home accent store that was awesome, though I can[t remember the name. They had a lot of ethnic inspired pieces and some great bed pieces. We also stopped in the very first Apple store, it was so hard not to buy an ipod but some how I wa able to walk away! Though the $80 Shuffle may still have my name on it. We then came home and turned in for bed.

I'm not sure if I wrote about Paola's younger brother and sister, Stefano and Nickol (i know I'm spelling her name wrong may she forgive me)[corrected spelling Nicole]. They are 2 of the brightest and happiest teens I've met ina long time. They both have great aspirations, lawyer for Stefano and an artist/fashion designer for Nickol. I give Paola's Mom a lot of credit for how great the 2 of them are!

So it is Saturday and we are going to Nappa. I am really psyched about this outing, though I do hope that I don't runinto Charlie N. It would be just a little freakish to run into a student from LKS on this trip, God do you hear me?

Today has been great! after a leisure wake I got the chance to catch up with Paola while her brother and sister in law went to pick up her parents and younger brother and sister. I forgot that I hadn't told her about the divorce and the craziness over the past 3 years. So I went through all of that and it was nice to feel supported by her. She still rocks my world! I also enjoyed the best grapefruit and orange that I've had in a few years- they aren't from California but are organic. Her family arrived with much excitement, though I was showering and I think someone walked in on me, hahaha! Gotta go out shopping but I'll be back!

After much time and contemplation I am finally ready to journal again. Though this is a new format there are a few scars from having my ex read my hand written journal... I'm starting this new journey from San Jose, California, where I'm visiting Paola- go Columbia! She was diagnosed with breast cancer in the early summer (2006) and is currently undergoing chemotherapy after having both breast removed and reconstruction. She looks awesome! It was such a relief when I saw her. After having my mother go through 2 bouts of breast cancer and several friends deal with many variations of cancer, I totally was unsure what to expect. However, she looks and for the most part feels well. Because she is 31, which is VERY young to have breast cancer, she is being treated very aggressively.

So here is the update on my trip to Cali so far... My flights were very easy- and I did enjoy being able to fit in an airplane seat without the extra lap strap (I've lost over 150lb's in the past 2 years- which we'll get to at some point). Raff (Paola's brother and his wife} picked me up at the San Jose Airport. There were two ladies singing classic Christmas songs in the airport, interesting thing is the airport looked like an old bus station? After hugging Paola for a full minute and taking a pee break, Paola took us to Google, that's right I got to go to the Google Campus! It was awesome!!! She gave us a tour of her building and then we had lunch at the famous Google cafeteria. The food was great and I couldn't believe how well they treat their employees- if only I was more computer literate... damn creative social worker genes! Their cubicles were all decorated in different themes, "Toys", "Aladdin", etc. I could feel the creative juices flowing through the entire building. We then took a brief siesta (read that as 2 hours!) at Paola's where I took a nap. We then went into San Francisco to have dinner at Home (www.home-sf.com). It was an incredible meal served by some of San Fran's cutest gay men, lol. the high light was actually my drink, Citron Basil something or another, muddled basil leafs, citron vodka, simple syrup, and soda water. Thought I was in a garden surrounded by all of the earths fresh offerings. The Hawaiian tuna was equally good, totally different from what we get on the east coast, fresher and more subtle. We then went over to the Mission neighborhood and had a drink at Cha Cha Cha. I had my current usual, Absolute Mandarin with club soda (thanks Frank M). Today is starting out as a beautiful day, no major plans other than the arrival of Paola's parents and younger sister and brother. Tomorrow we are going wine tasting in Napa Valley! More to come...