Whatever you're into...

Live long enough to find the right one. Protect yourself.


Whatever you're into, protect yourself.


Have safe and have fun. Protect yourself.


These videos are French public service announcements carrying an important message in a funny and enjoyable way. I hope you watch and take their content to heart.

My family has grown!

Kudos to the Mighty Mighty Zeta Chapter as the actives welcomed a new class of men to our distinguished line of brotherhood.

What an amazing ride it's been for them and I'm sure the memories they'll create through NAK from now on are moments they'll keep with them for the rest of their lives.

Welcome Omicron Class!

Fun fun fun at Circus

Friday kicked of an great weekend! Cortez invited me out to dinner with some friends but was unable to make it because of time constraints so we met up for drinks at Club Cobra. I picked up Alex and Adolfo, the latter who I haven't hung out with in about a month.

Cobra was an just okay, definitely a good place to pre-party but certainly not a place to meet people, dance and enjoy the luxury of after hours. Shortly after Cortez and the crew consisting of Freddy, Anthony, Peter, and a couple of their other friends, we opted out of Cobra for Circus. Mike's buddies soon followed of course, we did our best to try to convince and thank goodness because last week at Cobra just wasn't as much fun as I had hoped it would be.

Circus was so much fun! From the minute we got there I saw so many familiar faces, Steve, James, Marty, J'hon, Teo, Tony and so many others. It still weird as hell just how interconnected we all are. We're bound by current and former friendships, ex-loves, hook-ups, acquaintances and various other situations that should for common decency not be detailed, ha ha!

I was trashed but I did get to have a heart to heart with Chris, Cam's former roommate. I'm not sure if I'm ready to describe what was spoken of, but I misjudged him. I kind of feel like Hillary Clinton's whole voting for the war deal. Hillary made her judgment based on the intelligence information that Bush and the UK had provided. Who could ever imagine a president manipulating national security intelligence to advance his personal political agenda? Of course, I judged Chris based on the fucked up things the asshole would say about him, but alas...I'm glad I got to finally understand Chris.

I'm a hardcore Hillary supporter but I didn't know just how profound my support is. It's actually kind of scary. You have no idea how many conversations/arguments I got into with of course, me initiation the conversation with "Are you on Team Hillary or Team Obama?" ha ha! I'd like to apologize to Estuardo's friend whom I totally got irate with.

Freddy and I always tease Mike about what a big bottom he is. Luckily for Mike, I'm glad the guy he's seeing hasn't sat on his face because THAT would be the end of him! But I guess if you have to go, it's better than it's quick although perhaps not as clean as I'd imagine. More drinks and many conversations latter it was time to go. I had an interesting encounter with Marty, I think we may be headed to a recovery. It was great seeing Mike D! I love that guy, I can't wait to hang out with him some more.

I ended up taking a much needed cat nap at Adolfo's place and wow! He has the best apartment ever, I totally dig it! I just may be spending more lounge time there if he ever needs company.

The Gemini

Life's tests are but a preparation for tomorrow's challenges. Though I've conquered many of those challenges, I didn't come to be victorious without casualties motivated by my envious, prideful and largely weak self. Intensity rises and I reacted. My innate response to conquer knows not the difference between friend or foe. I recoil, my will blurs these lines which exist in a deep gray area that yields in my favor for this amorphous pool results in an opportunity to strike...

I am infamous for destruction of happiness and our relationship. I am vulgar. Some choices I made out of survival and pride; deep within there exists a dark spot in my soul that I fear may be with be for the rest of my life. Sometimes I hate myself. There has to be a way to redeem myself but even if so, things won't ever be the same. My deepest condolences to you, the victim of your foolish good heart as it walked through the path of my destruction.

Victimized by my deception, my own soul remains a slave to these moments that define who I am. Life's daily struggles bare witness to a war placing my demons against the inner man who knows good but seldom practices it. With my salvation at stake, I rise to face endless hours of this epic battle to free myself from the chains of who I was and worse, who I am terrified to be.

The Comeback, I told you so!

As predicted, a major Hoorah for Hillary: A Clinton Comeback!
Sergio, Mikey, Alex, Spike - what a bunch a dopes!
She's just getting warmed up fellas...don't f*ck with her! Bitches get sh*t done!

I'm rich b*tch!

The gifts you bring
You make me a wealthy person for giving yourself the authority to be incredible people. Through you I learn, I grow and I am one step closer in finding myself and getting to where I want to be.

I remain strong and optimistic because of the friendships that have been made stronger in these last few weeks.

The gifts you bring to my life are the nutrients I need to get through each day and the inspiration that guides me to reach for my dreams.

Tarsi (honor), Spike (optimism), Roxy (sensitivity), Alex (character), Carmen (joy), Nydia (understanding), Elkin (humility), Nelson (genuineness), Abel (drive), Jorgie (diligence), Rosa (trust) I love you.

Goodbye...

Everything has changed...
The journey I've been walking on has challenged me in ways that have tested my character and resolve. I honestly can't say that the end result has made me a better person. The growing pains of friendships are continuously tested. Some of these relationships are solidified while others fade into the shadows. Things have changed...I have to be a man and must recognize that while my heart believes one thing, my mind and common sense tell me otherwise.

I know it's time to say goodbye...

A lot on my mind

Commissions, board meetings, town halls, committees, reports, minutes-I can't live like this!

Over the past couple of weeks I've been feeling more overwhelmed with things in life. It feels as though perhaps I have been taken on more than I'm ready to admit I can handle. Is there a need for such demanding involvement? I miss coming home from work, lounging for a few hours then hitting the gym and calling it a night. My routine has changed drastically and rest has become much more elusive than before.

Perhaps I'm suffering from Primary fatigue. I'm deeply involved in this election campaign with an excitement that I haven't felt since Al Gore's campaign in 2000. The stress of Hillary's campaign has loomed heavy in my mind and it's been next to impossible to shake off this pensive state. I hope she can pull through...I've done my part in spreading the message so now it's up to the people of Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont to weigh in on this discussion.

I'm lucky to be entrusted with responsibility and for working on projects that directly impact the people in my community, I know that this will grant me further awareness and experience that I'll need to be a better person.

A Quarterlife Roxstar

Roxane: Amazing Legs and Simply Amazing at 25!
Thanks for the great night, Christopher Lawrence is off the chain! Any place that has straight men dancing with each other is okay with me, especially if they're hot. This one's for you Rox, HAPPY BERFDAY my fabulous friend!

International Gymnast Magazine: Mexico's Elsa Garcia Deserves Final Olympic Slot

Stretching Out: Olympic Wild Card?
My vote goes to Elsa Garcia of Mexico

One spot remains open for the 2008 Olympics for both men and women. The other 97 berths for each gender were determined by the results of the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Here's how they were allotted.

1-72: top 12 teams (six gymnasts per team)
73-78: two gymnasts each from teams ranked 13th, 14th and 15th
79-81: one gymnast each from teams ranked 16th, 17th and 18th
82-90: 1 gymnast (per federations other than those mentioned above) based on all-around ranking from Competition I (preliminaries)
91-94: apparatus gold medalists; supplemented by Competition I ranking if gold medalists were already qualified by previous criteria
95-97: three gymnasts designated by FIG Executive Committee with consideration to continental representation
98: Wild card, allocated by the Tripartite Commission (FIG, IOC and Association of National Olympic Committees)

In an effort to expand global participation at the Olympics, the selection system fails to ensure the highest level of competition possible at the games. In gymnastics, for sure, it is often harder to win a medal at a world championships than at the Olympics. The last three female gymnasts to "earn" a berth to Beijing scored between 51.350-51.875 in Stuttgart. Their prelim rankings were 83rd, 84th and 91st.

Elsa Garcia of Mexico scored 52.775, basically without the use of one leg. But her teammate Marisela Cantu tallied 53.350 and received an Olympic invite in the 82-90 group. With Mexico already represented, Garcia is caught in a difficult position.

I can only hope the Tripartite Commission understands and recognizes Garcia's true value when it selects the final woman to go to Beijing in August. That wasn't the real Garcia in Stuttgart, the one who scored a bronze-medal winning 60.200 at the 2007 American Cup. In her wake were Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs (Canada), Zhou Zhuoru (China), Daria Joura (Australia), Kristina Pravdina (Russia) and Daria Zgoba (Ukraine). That's a pretty talented field.

In the following months Garcia won seven medals at World Cup events in Paris (silver on floor, bronze on vault); Cottbus (golds on bars and floor, bronze on vault); and Ghent (silvers on vault and floor). Garcia won these medals against numerous world-class gymnasts, virtually all of whom will compete with their full teams in Beijing.

Just four days before the start of the World Championships in Stuttgart, however, Garcia sustained a serious leg injury that would require an extended break — but not until after she limped through four routines in Stuttgart.

"It hurt every time I put pressure on it," she recently told IG. "Walk, run, jump, land. After worlds I stopped my gymnastics training for almost three months."

At the 2006 Worlds in Aarhus, Denmark, Garcia's 33rd place in prelims would have made her the top individual qualifier with room to spare. But in Stuttgart, Garcia gamely competed with a torn psoas muscle, which extends from the lower back to the pelvis. After rehabilitation, which included swimming, cycling and cardiovascular exercise, Garcia is healthy again. She's also receiving national support for the wild card berth to Beijing.

"The National Commission of Sport and the Mexican Olympic Committee are supporting my case," says the 18-year-old from Monterrey, who is coached by Antonio Barraza and Teresa Lopez. "Mexico had never supported an athlete that was not automatically ranked to go, so this is the exception."

Garcia is a worthy exception to any rule that suggests Mexico shouldn't have two gymnasts in Beijing. She deserves to compete in the Olympics because she's a medal contender in more than one event. Her presence would make a positive difference in the competition.

For now, though, it's a waiting game. "The announcement will be done by the IOC," one FIG official told me recently. "Like you, we're waiting for the decision."

Says Garcia: "I am supposed to get an answer between March and May. I really hope they grant me a place in the Olympics."

So do I. Elsa Garcia deserves the chance to make the 2008 Olympics, because she'll make them even better.

Check out International Gymnast at
www.intlgymnast.com