Like they invented it

Why is it that once male hetero culture adopts something The Rest of Us have been doing all along, it gets renamed, usually with the prefix Male or Man.

Over the weekend I came across two new words that I fear are going to enter the vernacular: male-cation and male-lationship.

The Rest of Us have been going on vacation with people of the same sex for a long time. It’s fun, afterall, they are friends, their parents own a condo, it’s a cheap way to get away. And we have been having loving, platonic relationships with people of the same sex because it is rewarding, develops us into well-rounded and stable individuals, and is part of human nature.

Why is it that all of a sudden the hetero male culture is embracing going on a vacation with the guys and admitting to having loving, platonic relationships with other men, and it gets renamed. Like they invented it.

I am so glad I am not a man. It must be so constricting. I meet so many men who are afraid to show their feelings, compliment another guy on his looks, admire someone, wear clothes that are too big (yes, it’s true) because it might be construed as being gay. Makes me love being a woman even more.

Thanksgiving on ice

I started this post sitting on the phone with my friend D, booking our Thanksgiving trip to Iceland. We have been talking about this trip for a couple of years now and finally the stars are aligned and we are going.

I don’t travel home for Thanksgiving anymore because I go there (Rhode Island) for Christmas every year. So this is the perfect time to go to Iceland. I often have to invite myself to someone’s house, it’s been my older brother in NJ the last couple of years, and deal with the drama of my brother and the drama of my sister-in-law’s family. I love seeing my nephews but the holidays make me feel like I am at the mercy of other people and I am tagging along.

Enough on holiday drama. It’s too early!!

So this will be fun. Cold, but fun. D is a great guy, full of energy and curiosity.

And the scarves I am working on will come in so handy.

Anyone have any advice on what to see in Iceland?

Vicarious real estate

Had an interesting afternoon condo-hunting with my friend O. He is looking for an investment property and took me along today to 3 places, one in Brookland, one near the U St. corridor, and one downtown.

The place in Brookland was not open like he thought so that was out. Nice residential neighborhood, though.

The place on Florida was preconstruction so all we got was a computer animation DVD extolling the virtues of D.C. The building is named The Floridian so I think they were trying to make it feel like Miami with a lot of glass, steel, and cool people sipping drinks. Didn’t really work, frankly. And the overly skinny real estate agent did a terrible job selling overpriced condos that won’t be ready for another year, which translates to at least a year-and-a-half. (It looked like the hole was still being dug.) Who knows where the real estate market will be then.

The final place was on 12th, an older building that just went condo. The developer is doing minimal fixes on the units so is selling them at pretty good prices.

Sold!

I really believe in the feeling a place gives me and this place had a good vibe. Not all too-cool-for-school, hipster bs.

All of this made me appreciate my home all the more. Had it not dropped in my lap at a really great price I probably would not have bought it, but it has character, is in a good neighborhood, it is green but still in the city, and is close to work.

It's not all that boring around here

So much going on around here, starting with the excitement of protesters in front of the National Cathedral last night. We haven’t had that much activity since Reagan’s funeral.

I knew that there would be a protest on Wisconsin and my timing was perfect. I parked the car and as I approached the corner I saw the Larouche people and laughed to myself and was disappointed that this was all we were getting.

But then I turned the corner to a crush of people with flags and bull horns, yelling things in English and a language I did not understand except for “Hezbollah” and “Iran” and “terrorist.” I pushed my way through to my building, feeling like I don’t live in THAT boring of a neighborhood.

#2
The second most exciting thing is that I posted my ad in the City Paper matches earlier this week and finally I am getting some online-dating-action.

Match.com has crashed and burned in my opinion. It was my source for dating for years. I was meeting interesting, nice men all the time. I re-upped about a month ago and nothing. No winks, no emails, nothing. So I started responding to people. And again, nothing. Not even a polite thanks-but-no-thanks.

Whatever.

But the City Paper has come through for me.

Meeting SP on Sunday for coffee, and probably A, too. Yippee. The dry spell is over.

#3
Coming in third, the temp at work this week. The straight girls and gay boys are all atwitter. We have very little eye-candy around the office so this is very big.