New York. Sophisticated. The Best.

Friday Night: Berna, Mona and Berna's father, Egil arrived around 9 PM. It was good to see Berna alive. Of course, we had to catch up with everything between Berna that Mona and Egil could barely get to follow up. But we were gracious enough to include them in our myriad of conversations, really.

You see, Berna, Mona and Egil are all from Norway. So they conversed frequently in its own Norwegian Sign Language that I cannot really follow at times. Sometimes I step back and watched Berna translating what I said to her father so that he could understand what I was trying to say. Man, I'm telling you, different sign languages are beautiful. I think it is condescending to assume that ASL is the most beautiful language. I think there are many beautiful sign languages around the world.

However, at one point, we went to Charlie Brown's Bar & Grill where the Deaf Professional Happy Hour took place in King of Prussia, a suburb of Philadelphia (In its region's sign for King of Prussia is: KING PUSSY. Which is tacky to say.). Many deaf people were conversing in the bar area -- we chose to dine in secluded area where we can just chat in private and all that. Shortly as Berna was talking, a deaf woman that we do not know who, peeked in our conversation -- it was rude. I turned on to her and asked nicely, "What's wrong?"

Let's say ... drama ensued to a point where Berna had to interfere and tells them to back off. One woman asked Berna where they came from. Berna said, "Norway." This dumb woman said, "Newport, RI!" What the fuck? Berna said, "NO! WE FROM NORWAY! EUROPE! WE ARE BUSY. BYE!" As they walked away (there were four of them), they were saying that we were rude. Here is the flash message, it is rude to watch us converse. Do it in a discrete manner. I do it, so can you.

Saturday: Before we hit the road to New York, Berna dropped the bombshell. She said, "Oh, by the way, we are not driving. You will drive around and show us the places in New York." The mode of transportation was white Ford Bronco SUV. It is big. And I am not surprised that some people mistook the SUV as OJ Simpson's white Bronco. So off to New York, we went.

I think the Norwegians were mighty impressed with what New York has to offer. Driving into the city was a cinch. Finding the parking for this big white SUV is problematic if you do not know where to park it. But lucky me, I know the tricks. We visited The Battery Park, Ground Zero (Again!), Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Chinatown ... then we had a dinner in East Village.

We stopped by Nowhere Bar, the site of Big Lug every Tuesday and I was greeted by the familiar bartender -- he recognized me and went out of his way to hug me and all that. River and I talked a little as Berna, Mona and Egil took the bathroom break. Berna came back. River is hearing fellow who can sign very little. His receptive skills are not that good, but that is OK. Berna said, "He's cute."

I said, "Really? I'll tell you outside about it."

Berna translated to Mona and Egil -- as I told River that it was good to see him again and we headed out to a restaurant on St. Marks Place. I smiled and said, "What do you think of River?"

Berna said, "He's cute punk."

I said, "He was she. FTM trannie. He used to want me but I wanted a real cock."

Berna stopped in her tracks and turned to Mona and Egil who were oblivious as Berna had to take a second to compose herself and told them as well. Only Egil shrugged as if nothing happened. I bumped into someone I knew at Dicks Bar as well. After dining, we wandered around Times Square and Midtown -- showed them these famous skyscrapers including Citigroup Tower, the Lipstick Building, Grand Central Station and its connections with MetLife Building. Blah, blah. Two hours late as scheduled, we got to Kaybee and Sarah's pad in Hell's Kitchen.

As we settled down in Kaybee's pad, Kaybee looked scruffy and tired. It was good to see her. Egil was too tired to go out as he decided to stay put while Berna, Mona and I headed out to few bars in Hell's Kitchen -- Posh and Barrage. Before we headed out for the night, Egil could not find his digital camera. We assumed it was in the SUV. I joked that I'll pick it up and if I get drunk, I probably will bash his camera to smithereens. Of course, he freaked out. WE went down to retrieve his camera -- but we could not find it. Berna found it under the SUV. It was flattened by the SUV's tire! Suffice to say, Egil said he forgot to put it away while he gets out of the SUV to help me steer the big SUV to park by the road -- somehow his digital camera fell on the street and I rolled the SUV on it. Bad karma. But nevertheless, he got a better digital camera the next day.

Berna, Mona and I went to POSH and BARRAGE and had nice drinks. We cracked jokes and all that. Typical scenario of a gay bar, really. We discussed the men's body language -- I told Berna that it is easy to identify which one was insecure when they grew up in elementary and high schools. These muscular guys tend to be the ones who are insecure -- they try to make out for what they lacked in their heydays. They are often the bottoms but tried so hard to act like they are man. All you have to do is to give them a joke, they screech like a girl. That is the cue.

We went back to Kaybee & Sarah's pad, Sarah was up and running. It was good to see Sarah. We went to the roof and relaxed around. They had the best view of Manhattan. They live on 11 Avenue facing the wide view of Midtown Manhattan. Absolutely stunning view. It was getting late ... had a long chat with Sarah.

Sunday: I was startled to learn that where Kaybee & Sarah lived is right next to the studio of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart! Kaybee mentioned that they just moved in last August. I'm a fan of that show. I'm a fan of Jon Stewart!

We had a delicious breakfast at Renaissance Diner on 9th Avenue and 52nd Street. Its shakes are something out of this world. Even for Norwegians, they went UMMMMMM and UMMMMM on these shakes. It's crazy. After that, we walked all the way through Times Square to get the digital camera for Egil. Soon after that, we saw NYC's Naked Cowboy taking the pictures with some female senior citizens. They were groping him. Only in New York, I sighed.

Egil insisted that we have to check the Empire State Building before he flew back to Bergen, Norway. Try to find that town if you can. It took about two hours to get to the 86th floor. The variety of walks around Midtown from 11 AM To 6 PM took its toll on our feet. On 86th floor, it was brisky, clear and very windy.

After visiting Harlem and Central Park, it was time to leave the city as I maneuvered through the streets of New York -- they were kind to me as we left the city en route back to Philadelphia.

It was good to see Berna again. I had a good time with Mona and Egil. For 27 hours, I hope they had a blast time in New York with my guide. I feel New York is the only place I wanted to go back when the time is right. And I will be back.

On a side note, after talking with Berna, Kaybee and Sarah, I may undergo a massive change in a short time. Only time will tell, readers. And after all, it is for me to know and for you to find out much later.

Cheers,

R-

Tidbits for the Weekend of October 14 - 16!

Gallaudet Now 6-0! With Head Coach Ed Hottle pulling all the tricks, Gallaudet snapped 7-game losing streak against Williamson Trade School with a 33-24 triumph. For the first time in school history, club-status or not, Gallaudet is 6-0 with two games left, including versus SUNY-Maritime for Homecoming Day on 22nd of October. The way the team has been playing, they are slated to finish the season 8-0 and is in good shape to return to the Division III status. The truth is that they defied my expectations. And I'm humbled by that. Way to go, Gallaudet Griddlers!

Another Flick: I saw The Wedding Date last Friday evening. Delmot Mulroney played as a male escort which ended up falling in love with Debra Messing after making an arrangement that he acted as her boyfriend while they went to a wedding event in London. Delmot has nice ass, I'm telling you.

Virginia Hoops Begins: In Charlottesville and across the nation, many college basketball teams has begun to practice for the 2005-06 season. But in Charlottesville, this is special -- it is the final season of University Hall, its gymnasium for the last 20 plus years. I attended more than 100 games at University Hall. I'd say that more than 90 percent of the games I attended, Virginia won. However, next season, they will play in a brand-new gymnasium at John Paul Jones Arena. Of course, this season will be special because it'd invoke many memories and drama with many teams ...

Again, Virginia Did This!: A day after the basketball practices began, Virginia Cavaliers football team did the improbable thing -- they upset No. 4 Florida State Seminoles 26-21, marked the second time that Virginia gets to beat Florida State in 10 years.

Interested To Check Deaf Person's Art Shows? A friend of mine, Darren Schledt, told me that his works will be shown at two galleries in Richmond on November 4, 2005 at 7 PM. It will be held at 23 West Broad Street in Richmond. As for another show on November 11 & 12, 2005 at a local gallery on 4009 Fitzhugh, Street in Richmond.

Ooh, Two?! A little bird informed me that there are two Deaf guys in Washington, DC that works as male stripper at a local gay bar in DC called Secrets. One is current student at Gallaudet, one is not. More power to them.

Up next is The Improvised Trip to New York, of course!

Cheers,

R-

DailyKos, Ed Hottle, Flick & New York

A certain bird told me to check DailyKos.com which is one of the popular blogs in this world -- averaging more than 750,000 viewers per day. I averaged more than 300 per day. I learned that a certain friend of mine, Surdus also known as Joseph Rainmound gets his stuff printed on that website. It is titled This Democrat's Deaf.

It got printed this morning at 8:40 AM and already got 116 comments and counting. This is going to piss McWeenie and Whale Fatterson a lot. Good. Way to go, Little Joe! Congratulations!

And as I checked around, I was surprised to get a message from Gallaudet Football Head Coach, Ed Hottle. He has something nice to say to me about my blog regarding the football team.

Good morning,

I wanted to take a second and thank you for all of your support. I truly feel you are helping the team with the positive blogs and getting the word out that we are changing the football culture at Gallaudet. It is my wish, one which I am fully committed to, that we put Bison Football on the map nationally. We have been very fortunate and enjoyed some early success. We still have a long way to go and with the help of loyal supporters such as yourself we can make this change and sustain our success for many years to come. Its is my goal to build a program that alums can be proud of. The more the word gets out the easier it will be to recruit quality student athletes. Recruiting is gold in college football and your help is greatly appreciated. Also I think it important that folks know how big the Homecoming game is for our program. We are playing a Division 3 opponent and we will need all the crowd support we can muster up. Any assistance you can give in this area would be appreciated also. Thanks again and I am looking forward to meeting you.

Ed Hottle
Head Footbal Coach
Gallaudet University

Thanks, Ed Hottle! Good luck with the progress.

It is about time that Gallaudet has great good-looking coach in any sport, don'tcha? It is certainly nice surprise to get a response from him like that.

Another Flick: Saw Hide and Seek, it was okay. No big deal.

Yeah ... : For one day, I'll streak to New York with Berna, her father and her girlfriend on a sightseeing tour -- I'll be their tour guide in Manhattan on Saturday. Of course, I will pull them into East Village. It will be very short day for me. I doubt that I'll have the time to meet friends in New York on my own. But I know it will be good to be back in the city.

Cheers,

R-

Savage & Giordano!

Wanna See Dan Savage? I got an email that Dan Savage will be in the District on Friday, October 21, 2005 at Olsson's Bookstore (418 7th Street NW) -- perhaps I will be there to greet, kiss, grope and hug him. I am a certain huge fan of Dan Savage's books and articles.

What do I describe his opinions? Exhilarating! Dan Savage wrote Skipping Towards Gomorrah, Savage Love: Straight Answers from America's Most Popular Sex Columnist, The Commitment : Love, Sex, Marriage, and My Family, The Kid : What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant. Not only that, he is the Editor of The Stranger, a great liberal newspaper in Seattle. Is that all? No. He is also the Sex Columnist for several publications but mainly for The Stranger.

And he is so gay as can be, yet many straight folks relied him to answer the questions related to both worlds' sexual interests. I certainly trust his judgment over Dear Abby or Dotti for all I care!

If I cannot make it to the District, someone has to make out with him for me!

Unlike Most ...: Last night, I get to watch "A Lot Like Love". About time, I know, Ty never told me to check it -- just told me that he's in it. I asked few things about him working with Ashton. He mentioned that he taught Ashton how to sign this, that and there. And that Ashton was "cool" and "fun" to work with.

Then I finally watched it last night. You know, most hearing actors attempted to sign -- you could tell that their style of signings were pretty croppy and robotic. Totally barf and unattractive. I was surprised to see Ashton signing it ... in very casual manner. As if he knew how to sign for years.

And Ty? Well, I cannot really judge him. I just smiled each time I see him on the film. I mean, I'm so happy for Ty. I'm so thrilled -- despite the fact that many of you think I was pretty negative person to start with -- I am truly happy for Ty to do what he wants in life. Generally, the film is alright as can be. But I like it.

Oh, Ashton's ass is so hot. Ty, if Ashton invited you to his private party, can I be your chaperone?

UPDATE! I am well aware that Ty's next film is called "The Family Stone". I saw the trailer. Ty gets to work with Craig T. Nelson, Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Delmot MulRoney, Rachel McAdams and Luke Wilson. What a great cast!

I always thought Luke and Delmot were irresistible.

The trailer looks good and funny. I'm still trying to adjust the idea that my good friend is in these films. I cannot help but smile each time when I see him pop up on the screen. Check the trailer. Hat tip to Dylan!

Clarification: I got an email from a concerned hearing person who felt that I was vicious towards hearing people in general. Well, let's pay attention to this -- Dr. Zager is cute. Ashton is hot. Can they hear? Yes! There are many good hearing persons (I preferred men, though), but there are MANY idiotic and appalling hearies out there.

I was not born to educate, tolerate and put up with their craps. I chose not to go what many ones took the path, to educate something that they'll never learn! I rather to blast them to smithereens and this way, I'll wash my hands off on this subject but on the other end, they'll never forget it for a while.

But in person, I do not do that all the time. I am more reserved in person. I am more laid-back and easygoing person. I think many of my friends can confirm that. I used to be assertive in making friends. Now I do not. I am content with what I have. Of course, there are always room to make new friends. I'm pretty much flexible as can be.

I tend to smile when I get emails from unknown people because it is nice to see their responses. No, I do not bite. What I said on the blogsite does not mean that I do it in person all the time. It takes a lot of ignorance for me to snap at a hearie. But it does happen from time to time. Otherwise, be yourself, fellas.

Cheers,

R-

AIM Virus & Rocky VI

AIM VIRUS! I apologized if some of you got these annoying IMs which gave you the link to some places -- it was not my doing. My roommate clicked on his friend's IM on this computer. It somehow gets on all of us' buddy lists and fired away on to others.

I had been trying to fix it, locate the problem (windoze.exe) -- I had been trying to use spybot, ad-ware and aimfix.exe to stop it. But it kept on coming back. I'm going insane. If anyone has the suggestion shorter than to format the Windows XP, do tell me.

Thanks in advance!

Just Saw This: When I saw this, I groaned. I know folks will groan and Roy Weintraub will have his first orgasm in years. This is perhaps the saddest news for me -- I never liked nor advocated the boxing as a sport.

Confidential to Jay (Not Bunnag!): Jay, stop IMming the little boy or you'll go back to the prison as deserved!

Cheers,

R-

10.13.05 Tidbits

Ballroom?! A friend gave me the link to Gallaudet Homecoming Weekend. I checked it out. Then I glanced at the word that made me cringe the most: Ballroom.

According to dictionary.com, a ballroom is:

n. A large room for dancing

I repeatedly told many people that it is a fucking room! It is a fucking room! The proper word is Ball!!

n. A formal gathering for social dancing.

So if you want to call this event, it is supposed to be Xotic Ball, not Xotic Ballroom! Get this right just for once! Argh!! This is the word that demonized me for years at Gallaudet. And today, they're still calling it Ballroom?!

Did You See Kung Fu Hustle? I cried so hard. That movie is so hilarious. The snappy words and body language on each other throughout the film were so funny that I could not stop howl with heavy fits of laughters. It was entertaining to watch the Landlady doing these acts and yet, still maintained that damned cigarette in her mouth! It was crazy film.

What made me feel good about the movie is that during the film, there was a deaf female character that showed up in the film and was ganged up by not-so-nice hearing boys -- unfortunately for us, the Chinese referred her as "mute" -- which the hearing boy tried to rescue but was beaten and urinated by these boys. The Deaf female immediately liked this guy -- the beaten boy fled the scene afterwards. Years later, she found him. It was so cool to see a hero going out with a deaf woman.

UP next is ... "A Lot Like Love" performed by Ashton Kutcher and none other than my dear friend, Tyrone Giordano!

I Must Talk About Sex, Right? Reports are streaming out of Minneapolis that the professional football players up to 25 players engaged in a raucous party that involved masturbation, oral sex et al -- the party was supposed to last 3 hours but it was cut short when the crew members freaked out when the party became out of control -- now, people are not asking why but they wanted to know who's who attended the party ... !

UPenn Athlete Dead: Today, Kyle Ambrogi, U of Penn football player, committed suicide after a long period of depression. It was said that many knew that he had the problems with depression. Well, I suspected it has something to do with ...

Well, I was in a chat room filled with men. I saw one screenname that says: UPenn Closeted Athlete ISO Friends -- I'll see if it is still there. If not, it has to be Kyle.

Is this common? Unfortunately, yes.

R-

Boy, Dr. Zager Is Hot!

Today, I went to see the doctor for some check-up with my "ears" because the last time I had the audiology test was in '91. That is 14 years ago.

So off to see Dr. Zager, I drove through the rainy streets to that specific location. I hate the feeling of Audiology Clinic, really! It is so creepy. These attitudes on these receptionists' face reads: "Let me fix you up!"

My left ankle is still sore from turning it over last Sunday evening. So I limped a little and reached the front desk. I picked the pen out of its penholder thing, I asked for the paper pad. The receptionist at the front desk seems to be in her 60s or so, she tried to use her voice to talk. I shook my head and said in gesture to indicate that I want a paper pad. She declined and she pulled the file and showed me the name of someone else. I shook my head and rolled my eyes. She went to get another file then did the same thing. I nodded that it was mine. She gestured me to sit down. I sighed and asked for the paper pad in gesture, she shook her head and pointed to the chair behind me.

I signed so fast that she'll never forget it -- "SOMEBODY SHOULD PUT A HOLE IN YOUR FUCKING FACE!" All the time, I was smiling like nothing happened.

I'm sure she will never figure out what I said to her face. Then I sat and waited for the "appointed hour".

Then I was led to the room. Waited. Waited. Then Dr. Zager came in, I was bit startled. He smiled. He tried to speak. He's very young. Very cute. Very masculine. And has brown hair. Has glasses. I quickly scoped out his hands to see if there is a committment ring. Nope at all. He looks like my close friend! He laughed when I said no to some questions related to speech/hearing. He asked me why I was jumpy. I told him that it's creepy to look at him because he reminded me of Todd Newman, really. He laughed out loud.

Then we resumed back to this professional thing. Dr. Zager asked me if I can speak -- I laughed and said, "Only in one language -- gibberish." He chuckled and instructed me to go downstairs to have my audiology tests.

Blah, blah. My last time in '91, my left ear's db was 45. My other ear was 95. Today, they told me that both ears are way over 110 db. Yes, you got it! I'm DEAF as can be.

At first, I asked the Audiologist to tell me what dbs for my ears? She said to talk with Dr. Zager. Then Dr. Zager seemed to be "sad" and wrote down that my ears are now profoundly Deaf. I smiled like Hell. He looked at me as if I was nuts.

Little did he knew ...

for I am the Deaf Gay Militant.

Hear me roar. And I will never hear you roar!

Cheers,

R-