Commissioner Flip in action

As some of you may know, I am a Commissioner for the City of Pasadena serving on the Human Relations Commission. It's been a grand experience thus far but now I feel the pressure of leading an immensely important project with the little experience I have. Chairing a committee isn't new to me but the dynamic is largely removed from those that I've previously handled because being an official City entity there is protocol that must be followed. Luckily I'm a resourceful person and I know how to manage various projects so I won't be approaching this undertaking so blind sighted.

I'll keep everyone posted on how things go but for now it's best to keep this under wraps for now. There are other projects I'd like to take on through this commission such as helping to establish or build-on a gay-alliance network for people in the public and private sector, creating a Commission internship program, establishing a hate crime victim's advocate, collaborate on youth initiatives with am emphasis on academic and leadership development, and lastly helping to ease the strained black-brown relations that seemed to gotten worse over time.

First thing's first, I want to make myself a sandwich-I'm hungry!

Is my heart open?

I'm aware that some friendships run their course. I don't deny what they were and what currently is. In a feng-shui attack in attempt to simplify my life, seek clarity, and getting rid of some clutter, I've ended some lingering friendships that weren't really friendships at all. It sounds cold-hearted but there's no use in lying about the way things are. I walked away from these relationships having down everything possible to salvage them. My attempts were futile.

Amber thinks that perhaps I'm being a bit haste. She's got magnificent heart-I love her to death. I recognize that my heart is closed to some degree. I look to what is good in my life and I'm immediately reminded of my closest friends and family. I've been hurt so many times and sometimes I inflicted this pain on myself.

Amber thinks my heart is as big as hears and I almost cried because I've let hurt and mistakes define how I view myself and worse, how I deal with things. I love people and perhaps getting rid of them before they hurt me is just easier on me to handle.

Is my heart open or have I been filtering out the unwanted as soon as I asses them as an opportunity for someone to hurt me? I stand by my choices as painful as they might seem. It's no easy task to walk away without looking back but I am an adult now and I expect friends to be friends through thick and thin and unfortunately I haven't seen that in a couple of friends. Look at me now, doing the same thing, walking away. I'm perpetuating the very same thing that I'm chastising. This paradox is the offspring of how I deal with emotional pain. Perhaps there is escape but I haven't been able to reason a compromise between my optimism and cynicism with regards to friendships.

The journey continues. I don't believe in replacements, but as I say goodbye to great people in my life I say hello to some new ones who will undoubtedly bring love and light in the true spirit of growth and friendship.

Birthday Boys!

Big hugs to my Ryan, Juan, Spike and of course my brother Danny, on their very special day, happy birthday! My brother said he has an awesome time, I called him at 4am and poor guy was recovering from a night of birthday fun. Spike, I owe you one. I know you party like a supahfreak so post some pictures soon!

I did however, party with Ryan and all his friends. I picked up Edu and headed for the Abbey. I love Ryan's friends, they're very successful and positive people who I can totally see myself being around more as I get to know them. After the Abbey we rushed off to Circus where of course parking was a hot mess but alas, we made it in!

It was imperative I make a cameo at Circus to celebrate with Nelson's boy Juan! He seemed to drunk and out of it, loved that guy. It was only a matter of time before I saw everyone else at Circus, Nelson, Adolfo, Alex, Marty, I mean you name it and they were there. Apparently I hooked up Adolfo with some cute guy, ha ha. I tend to do that, I know I've hooked up Alex a couple of times so it didn't surprise me when Adolfo told me what went down.

The night was terrific fun! No drama, no tears this time! The next day was even better, actually...I won't get into it, but I had a great time.

The Job

A must see and hilarious satirical short film!

One Moment, One Chance

One Woman,
One Leader,
One Moment,
One Time,
One Chance,
One Decision,
One Fighter,
If not now, when?

A Day with the Girls, I mean the Gammas

One of the highlights from Circus was hanging out with Alex and his fraternity brothers, the Gammas. NAKs and Gammas are the dominant Latino based fraternity's on the West Coast making us rivals to some degree because we're both relatively large while also being founded around the same time. Of course, this rivalry gets intensified at some chapters while others have a pretty good relationship. In the real world, it's important to embrace all people, especially if they've got a good head on their shoulders.

After Circus Alex and I joined his Fraternity brothers at the Gay Burrito off Santa Monica Blvd. I had a great time with them at Circus and the vibe continued while we ate. Of course I was teased for being a NAK but that's just because they don't know any better, ha ha. In all reality these guys were wonderful people having a really good time.

I'm not sure how this came to be, but they convinced Alex and I to crash at Beto's (UCLA) apartment so that we can continue drinking and go tanning the next day. Of course it sounds silly in retrospect considering the weather had been a little cold as of late but alas, they had me at more drinks.

We woke up the next day and these guys...oh man...they wanted to start taking shots! I don't take succesful shots but thanks to them I finally found my poison! I can take a shot of whiskey with ease! We must have taken 9 shots in a span of 2 hours, goodtimes! We got into some discussions on the Democratic Primary, gay marriage and God knows what else. We walked to a Mexican restaurant where Alex treated me to some nachos with chicken mmmmmmmm.

Soon after we returned to the apartment we decided to head to the beach, I was the most sober to drive and so we headed to Santa Monica which was only about a minute drive away. The beach was fun and even snuck in a few shots while we were tanning. Jose (UCSD) and Alex got into the water which was way to cold for me so I joined Juan (Cal State LA) and Beto on land. in the hour and a half we were there I was able to get a light tan but I wanted a bit more color mostly because I was inspired by my friend Mikey who just got himself a great tan at the beach just one week before.

Upon returning to the apartment, we settled down to watch Aladdin, only Jose was able to stay up through the whole thing. We ordered pizza too! I haven't had pizza in months, thanks guys! I was drunk and hungover by 8pm, I couldn't take it. I felt miserable and was not up for another night of partying. After a much needed nap, I drove Alex home and headed home.

Hanging out with them kept NAK on my mind. Their interaction reminded me of the fun times that I've had with my own fraternity brothers. A big thanks to you gentlemen for a great time, you guys are quality people.

Alex's Birthday Night

Cobras and Matadors, The Abbey and Circus

This past Friday we celebrated Alex's birthday. The night started out with some great conversation over dinner at Cobras & Matadors in Los Angeles. I met some great people, including Saski who comes of extremely positive and full of life.

The night took a turn for the worst when a couple more of Alex's friends showed up. The restaurant wasn't booked to capacity yet made no effort to find us a bigger table to seat us all. The main reason that Alex chose that restaurant was because you can bring in your own alcohol; the only option left was to sit at the tables outside which is also the one place in the establishment where we couldn't drink the alcohol we brought. Bitches.

The service was awful, the quality of the food wasn't that great and I don't see myself going back there anytime soon.

We headed out to the Abbey for some light pre-party drinks. The plan was to head to Circus for soome dancing and drinks. The Abbey is always fun and people seemed to be enjoying themselves a lot but I was eager to get to Circus, being that it's my favorite club in LA.

Circus was fun! I ran into Alberto, I hadn't seen him since New Year's eve! The 818 Crew was there and they're always fun. There's some weird vibe between Danny and I. We didn't have any kind of falling out or anything, we just stopped talking and I'm playing that by ear but alas, no everyone, I don't have anything against Danny.

The Gammas were representing in full effect! Juan, Jose, Beto and Tony were there and uniquely representing a different chapter. I love networking and it's always fun to run into people who have had a similar experience. When I first met Tony he came off as standoffish but in getting to know him over a short while, he's just more quiet than others and so far a pretty good guy.

Timing is everything and last night was a perfect example. There's some weird friendship dynamic that Alex has with some people close to him. Tears were shed that night and not out of happiness. Everyone is protective about Alex including myself and despite the futile attempts to break him free of a confrontation he was having with a friend, Alex would not budge.

The night was saved however! Brotherhood really is strong with Alex. The Gammas salvaged the night by inviting Alex and I to the Gay Burrito. The night didn't end there. Apparently we made improvised plans for us to go tanning. Goodness, we're dorks.

To be continued...

Working it out!

One of my goals for 2008 was to get healthy. Motivation can be tough to find...wait, no there's plenty of motivation around but it still hasn't been enough to get my butt to do something about it. It took me a couple of months into the new year before actually attempting anything, but here I am! I stepped it up with some supplements, drinking more water and hitting the gym at least 4 times a week.

Thanks to 24 Hour Fitness, I'm already seeing changes and I feel great! Kudos to me!

Honor Pac @ Club Cobra

A couple of weekends ago I served as part of the host committee for Honor Pac's (a political action coalition for gay Latinos) latest fundraiser held at Club Cobra. Javier Angulo, an old college buddy of mine was in charge of putting on this event and his hard work paid off. I was surprised by just how many people showed up to the event, I can't believe how supportive my friends were, then again, that's why I love them so much.

So many friends showed up and lots of money was raised for an organization I stand behind. Mikey and that fine ass friend of his Freddy showed up, both had fun from what I remember, ha ha. Major snaps to Carlos and Nelson for picking up Adolfo. A few of us headed to some diner that Alex recommended to quench the after party munchies, thanks for keeping us company Nelson!

Congratulations to Eduardo for winning the $40 bar tab! I knew you could do it!

It's time

I think the time has finally come to say goodbye to Parsons and pursue a new path. My two years at the company has been rewarding for me in numerous ways. I've garnered a of experience at the corporate level and amassed numerous skills. I'll miss some of the more interesting people there, the long hours at the Major Proposal Center, working closely with the Finance Department and of course I'll be missing B and H the most. Yes, it's time! Me siento muy excited!