TetRefine

Thats ok. We're used to being hated anywhere outside New England.

Don't You Worry Child, by Swedish House Mafia. Unfortunately its their last single that they are going to release.

Every time I read the paper, the Dear Abby section is always on my list of pages I stop at and read. Sad to hear she's gone.

I couldn't have said to better myself James. I grew up around guns, hunting, and target shooting and to villify gun owners is just plain stupid. Just goes to show how fucking retarded Democrats are.

I love to ski. Its my all time favorite sport, and its something to do during the long and cold winter months. Obviously reading is also something. I love SciFi like S.M. Sterling, alternate history like Harry Turtledove, and military thrillers like Tom Clancy, Larry Bond, and Harold Coyle. The gym is also another favorite pastime. I love working out.

Thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes, and especially to Sam for starting this thread. Here is my first legal drink. South Beach Tea, with tequila, vodka, rum, triple sec, sprite, and orange juice. Not the manliest drink, but it tastes damn good.

Black all the way!

Thats true, but that is only one game a week. Take baseball for example. ESPN airs games on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday nights. Fox and TBS also airs games on weekend afternoons in the summer. So thats at least 5 nationally televised games a week, all on major channels. The NBA gets the same treatment. The NHL is stuck with one game a week on Sunday afternoons, and it doesn't even start until the NFL is over, more then half way through the season. Also, having some playoff games stuck on a business channel where people won't even know its on isn't good for business either. The problem is, ESPN no longer has a financial stake in the NHL, so they completely ignore it in their SportsCenter coverage, which also hurts its popularity. During the winter, SportsCenter is 95% NBA, and the ending couple minutes will include one or two hockey highlights. It gets about as much coverage as soccer does. That I think is the major problem.

I don't resent them. First off, its not my space. Its a gym with 600+ members, and probably about 150 who are regulars. What I don't like is the lack of common courtesy they generally show. One of the nastiest things you can do in a gym is not wipe down the equipment, and it happens all the time with the New Years invasion. Honestly, how hard is it to pick up the bottle, squirt a little liquid, and wipe it down with a towel? It also really bothers me knowing that almost all of them will quit within a month because it gets too hard. Honestly, I've been fat before so I know how hard it is to go from out of shape to in shape. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to do it. All these fat slobs come in thinking they can get a quick and easy fix and look like Arnold in a month. It doesn't work like that, and you have to stay committed. Rarely ever do you see any of them last into March/April, and those that do I have a lot of respect and admiration for. The fitness industry feeds off these people because they promise people a quick fix, and when they fail at it, they will buy another diet/workout/pill in hopes that will work. Well, the fact is there is no quick fix. Just a lot of hard work where results come slow. Its the whole idea of a quick fix that I really hate. Having been one of those overweight people before and having transformed myself, I have no sympathy for those who lack the basic willpower to do the same thing. Its a matter of self-respect. If you care enough, you will stick to it to prevent yourself from having major health problems, looking poorly, and most likely dying early. Unless you have some documented medical reason, there is no excuse except for your own laziness. The only good thing is, they subsidize my gym membership costs.

The NHL will never amount to much on the national stage until it gets ESPN to start caring about hockey again. Back in the pre-2004 lockout when ESPN used to broadcast games, the NHL was pretty popular (although still easily in fourth place). When ESPN dropped them after the '04 lockout, and SportsCenter stopped airing anything about the NHL, its popularity plummeted again. For a while, the only nationally televised games were on Versus, which wasn't even a basic cable channel. I don't know if it is now since its changed to 'NBC Sports'. Until you get the monopolized ESPN to care about hockey, it will continue to be a bottom dweller sport in terms of popularity.

This!

Do you have season tickets?

Batman is my favorite, but Marvel has the better overall collection of superheroes by far.

Gene if what I said here kills people's motivation for their resolution, then it was a pretty pathetically weak resolution to begin with. And just so you know, I don't sneer or condescend anyone in the gym. I put in my headphones and go into my own little world, but you know you better right? I'd have more respect for people and their New Years resolutions in the gym if they actually stuck with it. But not everyone has the balls to stick through something that is hard to obtain.

Ahh the New Year is upon us. Many consider it the chance to start anew, do that thing they've been meaning to do for years, get in shape, save more money, or make new friends. It seems everyone has a new year's resolution, and they promise the world they will stick to it. But in reality, how many people actually follow through long-term with their resolution? Not many. So, is it a waste of time to make a new year's resolution that you will most likely end up failing at? Personally I think they are a waste of time, and to prove my point I'm going to use the oldest example in the book when it comes to new year's resolutions: the gym. On January 2nd, my gym that I go to when I'm back home was invaded. I usually go at 11am, where there is maybe ten or twelve other people there at most. I like it. Its quiet, you never have to wait to use anything, people know how to work out, and I can pop my earphones in and not be bothered. Now the annual "resolutioner invasion" has begun, the gym is packed at all hours of the day with people who have no idea how to use the equipment, dress in completely inappropriate clothes, and don't wipe down the equipment after their sweaty nastiness is done using it. And by February, 90% of them will be gone until next year rolls around because they realize its not easy and a long process. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people working out and getting in shape, but when they expect to get instant results from doing little or nothing, you deserve to fail. And that goes for everything people set their mind to, not just the gym. So, are New Years Resolutions a waste of time or do they actually have some merit?

There are a couple clubs and bars in Philly that have "college nights", but they are always on Wednesday nights. Up until a couple months ago I didn't bring my car down with me to campus, which meant we would of had to rely on the commuter train to get back and forth. Since the last train left at 11pm, and didn't start again until 5am, it would of meant having to spend a couple hours wandering the streets of Philly in the dark until it started again. It just never really worked out. Plus, I'm a bit of a introvert, so I need alcohol to loosen me up to get comfortable dancing around so many people and not care what I look like. I'm 21 in a couple days so that really won't matter anymore. I wasn't at all nervous before I went to a club for the first time. I was in a foreign country 5,000 miles from home, hardly spoke Spanish, and had absolutely no expectations. The only thing I was worried about was sticking out as an obvious foreigner. My skin was lighter then most people there, and I'm much more built then the more slender and toned boys that populated the club. It turned out that I did stick out, but it was a good thing. I got some attention from a couple cute boys, and nothing is more intoxicating to a 20 year old gay boy then attention from other cute gay boys, even if I wasn't looking to go home with any of them. That attention in itself is a big motivator to keep going to the gym, lol. We also met a really nice and sincere guy our first night there who was actually interested in talking and getting to know us, which is a rarity in those kind of places I guess. Cam and I both still keep in contact with him. And just curious...is gay WeHo as snobby and image obsessed as the media makes it out to be?

It funny, because before I even went to a gay club, I was expecting it to be exactly like Babylon. And you know what, it was, minus the decent minority of straight people in the club. There were tons of attractive young guys (although not a ton were shirtless), thumping music, and the back room was exactly like they show in QAF. That was an interesting experience. The best part about partying in Buenos Aires was that it was cheap. Every Saturday, the club had 100 pesos general admission (about $18) where you could drink all you wanted for that one price. Considering club drinks are usually $7-9 a piece, thats a pretty good deal especially on a Saturday night. I also saw a bouncer choke slam a drunk guy who was trying to pick a fight with these two teenagers. Apparently there the rules are slightly more lax on breaking on fights, lol.

It was similar at the club in Buenos Aires. The crowd of probably almost 2,000 was 90% under 30 years old. Down there, people start at 2am and party till the sun comes up around 6:30, so its pretty much a young man's game. Plus you are generally dancing or moving around for most of that time, so you have to have energy, which is again for younger people. A bar is more just sitting around and hanging out with people, which is more geared toward lower key, older people.

Who are you again?

What was you're first experience like going to a gay club or bar? Was it everything you expected, or nothing like you thought it would be? Was it intimidating and filled with model-quality boys or relaxed and welcoming? Did you feel liberated and finally felt like you belonged, or did it just seem so out of the norm it was scary? I turn 21 in a couple days and will finally get to go to one in the US. I've been to one overseas a couple times, but I have a feeling it will be different here in the States compared to a foreign country. Just curious to hear people's thoughts who have experience.

Radioactive, by Imagine Dragons. One of the best songs EVER. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu-xFvLaE68

You definitely over-think this whole love thing. Seriously, just go with the flow and don't overanalyze everything.

I only wish the media actually portrayed us as a group that is just as diverse as straight people. But even they are stuck on selling the effeminate, limp-wristed weakling as the only gay character on TV. Its really god damn annoying.

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