We went to Baja Betty’s for some mid morning Mexican food and drinks and Ryan came to pick me, Tommy and Drew to take us out on his new cabin cruiser. I like to call it a mini yacht, though. On the way out we saw these sea lions! It’s rare to see them like this in SD…or I have never seen so many of them on a pier so close to humans. But when you wanna nap in the sun, sometimes you just gotta go for it.
Awwww
OK. HOT.
Tommy decided to take a dip in the freezing cold ocean. Listen to how many times I call him “idiot” and “retard” oops sorry
After a bit on the boat we met up with Tommy’s parent, Mr. and Mrs. 5tone, at The Linkery. I didn’t like that place the first time I went because they put an automatic 18% gratuity on the bill no matter how many people are dining. Well that to me is just stupid on their part. What if I wanted to give more? I guess that is just license for their waitstaff to fuck around and do whatever they want all night. Three people at the table ordered rib-eye and they came back (this was at 9:00pm on a holiday weekend) to tell us there was only one left. ???? LAME! Oh and our friend “Turkey’s” roasted chicken was bleeding. Not good times. My bratwurst plate was fine. I just don’t like that place.
We went to Bar Pink for about a minute and a half and listened to a terrible band play before heading to none other than FIESTA CANTINA! I stayed til just after midnight to wish Tommy a Happy 25th Birthday I Love you!
I argued with myself for at least 30 minutes before deciding to skip yoga. I rationalized that it was my last day of vacation and I had a good 3 or 4 hours to explore the food trucks of Manhattan. I packed up my stuff and left it at the bell desk and stepped out into the rain to go find food. What I didn’t realize what that it was a torrential downpour. If you had seen me you might have thought I was clinically insane. I was wearing flip flops (the ones I have been wearing for 4 months straight now, so there is no traction left) and I was sliding all over the slick sidewalks for easily an hour in a utter downpour looking for a Korean BBQ truck. I became consumed with finding this thing. I was starving, passing by a zillion other delicious smelling trucks and kept trucking on in the wet hot humid rain. It was supposed to be on 50th between 6th and 7th so I only had to walk 7 blocks. No worries, right? Well, it was not there and then the falafel guy sent me around the corner and it was not there either. SOAKED and pissed and very hungry I ended up at the place literally on the same block as my hotel called Rue 57. Totally over priced French food, and here’s the worst part… they also have a sushi bar. French and sushi? That is against everything I have been saying about businesses offering things that have nothing to do with each other. So fucking stupid. I ordered the turkey and prosciutto panini and was so sad that I waited til the last day in New York to seek out the food truck circuit. What an epic fuck up. Right after lunch I grabbed a cab with over 3 hours before my flight and headed to JFK. With the rain I knew there would be traffic and the cabbie was smart enough to go around it…it took us almost an hour and half. Miserable way to end a perfect vacation, right? It gets better… and weirder.
I get to the airport and go to the check in kiosk at Jet Blue and attempt to identify myself with a credit card. It says that my name is something in Chinese and that I am traveling to Florida. Ummm. Ok. Actually. Let’s try another kiosk. Same thing. AND ANOTHER ONE. same thing. I go to the counter and give her my ID and my reservation is in there system. When I explained what happened she suggests I call my bank after telling me that by swiping my card it only identifys my name, and has nothing to do with my credit card #. Huh? Is this credit card fraud or just some Jet Blue glitch? I think I will call them and attempt to explain it, but full knowing that I will be extremely frustrated by the time I explain this redic story to 3 or 4 people and then having a manager say sorry, there’s nothing we can do and I don’t know why this happened to you. It’s just unsettling, ya know?
THEN. As I was waiting for the flight it was taking forever and a day so I ordered a beer from the little monitor thingy and they are supposed to just bring it to you as you sit by your gate. I was like, cool… I won’t board for a bit I will slam this Stella. Well sure as shit I had to board the plane before I got it. I walked up to this dude and said “Do you drink beer?” Of course he looked at me like I had tentacles coming out of my head and said “Huh?” I told him that I had just ordered and prepaid for a beer and that it would be delivered any minute. I told him to sit at that chair and to enjoy the beer I just paid for. He was so confused but as I was walking down the hallway, I saw him go sit down. He had said “Why did you order a beer if you had to get on a plane?” and I felt like saying “Hey Mr. Smarty Pants yeah I shouldn’t have cut it so close but you get a free beer so shutty.” Then what happened was so crazy…I had a panic attack, I broke out in a sweat and my heart started racing. I almost ran back to the gate area because I realized that the server would be bringing a receipt to him with my name and info on it. I mean, obvi he is not Laura and hopefully he tells the server what happened and I am hoping that the server doesn’t give him the receipt. In my extreme paranoia of the earlier incident with the kiosk I am now convinced that the whole world is out to get my personal info and credit card #. I knew that if I tried to go back there was no way they would allow me back on the plane. I would probably be detained for being a crazy person so I used my new yoga breathing skills to calm myself down. I literally said over and over in my head “Let it go. Let it go.” I was sweating, panicking and freaking the fuck out as I sat down in my seat. I saw a nice couple next to me and I was like “Look, I have a question.” I explained what happened and the guy was like “Nah, you’re fine. They never show the full numbers on those. He would only have your name and that’s it.” I don’t know why I didn’t think that through and realize it, but holy shit I was losing it. So insane. I am insane. Am I going to close that account anyways? Yup. lol
I ended up getting off the plane with a hefty buzz and Tommy picked me up and we went straight to Fiesta Cantina.
I was exhausted, drunk and on EST time so we went back to his house for a slumber party. My car had been parked at his place for the last 3 weeks so I wouldn’t have to pay for parking and I was in for the night. Tommy’s parents have moved out months ago but every once in a while you find a random weird item in the deserted house. Like these glasses. Beige fur pads attached at the bottom of the glass-less frames by fishing line. Ok. I am looking for some play on words here. Anyone? Am I missing a punny joke?
Bikram kicked my ass today so all is good with that. I started prepping for my month long trip around the east coast and am really looking forward to the extra week now… I have never been to Martha’s Vineyard so I might try to pull that off. Also my nephew Danny will be in CT for a week and I am pretty excited to hang out with him and redeem myself for going to Vegas 3 times in a row and not seeing him.
Tommy and I went to Fiesta Cantina to have a drink to properly kick off my birthday week. Every year I say I don’t care what I do for my birthday and that it doesn’t really have to be a big deal and then it turns into a week of celebrating. Since this is the last birthday I will ever celebrate (there will be no 40th next year!) I was ready to get it started. We met Chris for sushi at Ebisu and then Tommy was meeting some friends so he took off before the food came…but it doesn’t really matter because he rarely eats on Fridays. The sushi was awesome as usual there… Chris’s treat for my birthday! Thanks babe! Chris and I grabbed Rich and headed to Humphrey’s to see The Comedians of Chelsea Lately. Tonight’s line-up was Whitney Cummings, Josh Wolf and Jo Koy. With a special guest appearance by Chelsea’s midget assistant Chuy!
I have to be honest, Whitney Cummings was not that good. She was talking so fast and furiously (well she was like screaming) and barely gave the audience enough time to laugh between jokes. She was funny enough at times, but her delivery was rushed or something. Plus she had a few jokes that I definitely had heard versions of before from other stand up comics. Recycled material if you will. Josh Wolf was funnier, but he talked about his kid a lot. I was getting tipsy so maybe I am exaggerating…I dunno when I am totally comfortable getting up to pee in the middle of a comic’s set and then chit chatting with a girl in the bathroom about her upcoming trip to Australia, the comic is probably losing my interest. Jo Koy on the other hand was awesome!! Definitely worth the forty two bucks just for him.
Humphrey’s is a neat place because you sit right by the water and see the boats in the harbor…I haven’t been to a show here in forever and I always think how fun it would be to get a room that over looks the audience and the stage and have a little party in there while you catch the show. Poor planning on our end this time… Chris and I love to do things in style so sitting out in the audience freezing our asses off with all the other heathens was not the best way to experience this show. Next time for sure a room with snacks, drinks and a balcony overlooking the commoners.
I was home in bed by 11pm. I was being summoned to go to Hillcrest for some more fun but honestly I knew yoga at 8:00 am would be a real bitch so I stayed in.
I had lunch with my friend Alex in Hollywood at a place called The Corner. I have known Alex for about 15 years and have stayed in touch with him even though he moved to LA. He is an architect (has worked for Frank Gehry!) and has a design firm now and is loving life. He is trying to set up an office in San Diego so I hope to see more of him. We had a great talk about our careers (or lack thereof in my case) and relationships and where we are in our lives. It’s good for me to talk to people outside of the porn world once in a while because sometimes I think I am losing my mind. He put a few things in perspective for me that I hadn’t thought of. Points to ponder so to speak.
After lunch I had some errands to run and then I headed over to Jonathan’s house to chill out and wait for him to get off work. His roommate Beth was home and I met her charming chihuahua Finnegan. It’s pretty obvious that Finnegan is not a fan of the fish eye lens.
We went to a gay mixer called Spring Out at the Sofitel. It was pretty frustrating because there were a ton of hot guys there and they were all well dressed, well behaved, held good jobs outside of porn aaaannnnd… gay. It’s my own fault. We didn’t have time to eat before we went so our dinner consisted of these nasty cheeto thingys and booze.
Have you ever seen the show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” where they take an object and have to come up with different uses for it? An improv thing kind of like charades with a random object. Well, something like this…
There were about 30 more but you get the idea. Next bar! The Abbey! Next prop! A sugar cane stick!
Creepy.
Then we went to Fiesta Cantina where the bouncer kept yelling at me for conducting a photoshoot in the stairwell.
Jonathan is a hot gay dude with a great personality. If you would like a date with him, hit me up. I can arrange this
And lastly I will leave you with what I think is a very funny video of the sounds that Finnegan makes when he is upset. You might not find it as amusing as I did at midnight, but then again, maybe you will. Beth was not amused by our antics. Sorry Beth!
I met Tommy at a place called The Big Easy for a New Orleans style dinner. Frank Terzoli, a former Top Chef contestant, owns the place so I was excited to try his food. We sat down and realized that they don’t have a liquor license yet so we politely told them no thank you and left. It’s my own fault for trying to go to a restaurant without a functioning website. What an idiot. We went approximately 25 feet across the street to none other than Fiesta Cantina: our favorite place for drinks and gawking at hot gay guys!
This is Bonnie, the cutest sweetest lab mix who kept licking my fish eye lens.
This is by far one of my favorite fish eye shots to date!
Tommy had to head home so I flipped a coin and met Tim down in Ocean Beach at Tony’s and then we ended up at Sunshine Company. I like OB, I need to get down here more often.
He was with some friends who I cannot for the life of me remember their names. I am so bad.
This is lovely. Maybe one day when I get published in a magazine I will use this as my “Meet the Contributors” shot.
It was good to hang out with Tim, we did a little shit talking about NA which is always healthy! haha! I think I might have offended his friends a little because I was kinda fired up today. His buddy is a Hawaiian, Eskimo, Asian, part Black dude with a red beard and I just could not wrap my head around that. He was a cool guy and he began giving me a bunch of shit back, too, so I think it was fine. I told them about my new idea for a video blog and they loved it. It’s basically like Man vs. Food…. but it will be Girl vs. _____. Fill in the blanks with whatever alcohol is on the menu for the night. What do you think? I think it will be highly entertaining and self deprecating which is always a blast. I am going to wait and shoot it with the Canon I am ordering
In other news: Today was interesting because I took a call from Christian who I haven’t spoken to in months. Christian was a very good friend of mine for a long time but things got a little ugly with us professionally (he is a content provider) and I chose to stop speaking to him because of the unnecessary drama he was causing me in my life. I am sure he has a different opinion about why we stopped being friends, but nonetheless, we hadn’t spoken in a very long time. He sent me a text a few weeks ago telling me about how my blogging during my trip to Australia and New Zealand has inspired him to see and do more while he was traveling. Christian likes to sit in his hotel room playing World of Warcraft and he likes to go to the gym for hours on end. I’m sorry but if you can do that shit at home, then why bother going on vacation at all? Anyways, in a nutshell he called to tell me that he underappreciated me while I was at Naughty America and he wanted to take me to dinner. (I am going to go ahead and take this as an apology for his erratic and ridiculous behavior towards me earlier this year.) I told him the only way I would go to dinner with him is if he flies me to Texas (his home state) and takes me to dinner there. That fucker owes it to me. So we shall see if it happens. I do miss him a little bit. And I meant what I said when I was a guest blogger on his blog at the end of 2008. (PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK! there is a bunch of smut on there with no warning page and stuff you might not want to read about) Our relationship had changed dramatically over the course of 2009 and we were far from BFF status. Maybe now that I don’t work in the industry and have to deal with his unprofessional horseshit on a day to day basis, we can become “friends” and talk about things that do not involve porn. I can think of a few people who might disagree with the decision of letting him back into my life, but hey…things are on my terms now and I don’t have to talk to him if things get ugly again. I’m hoping we can be friends and I can continue to assist him in being less of a douchebag. Hi Christian I know you’re reading this.
Day 7 at the gym. I am doing pretty good but let’s face it, what the hell excuse would I have now for not working out every day? None.
Tommy and I met in Little Italy at a boutique hotel called the Porto Vista, which is apparently gay friendly and they were doing a Sunday rooftop thing with drink specials and snacks. It was a gorgeous sunny day and even though the wind down by the bay was a little bit much, we were very happy to be outside sunning ourselves. Plus, I was excited to try out my new camera!
The drinks were fucking god awful. I actually think this place will become a very popular hangout on Sundays but they gotta do something about the bartender. This was supposed to be a mojito, but honestly tasted like vodka and flat soda water. Putting muddled mint in your drink does not constitute a “mojito” folks.
Bella Luna and I fell in love. She is an American Bulldog and is absolutely the sweetest thing ever. I am a little obsessed with dogs right now and I was questioning myself whether I wanted to get another one… someday yes, but not now with this new freedom I have. I put my 13 year old dog down in the summer of ’08 and my life changed dramatically. I think in another year or two I might consider a dog.
She is still a pup and wasn’t quite sure what to make of the big fancy camera.
Probably the laziest puppy I have ever seen. Or she was just tired and needed to continue sleeping. Or her Mom gave her sedatives.
Umm I definitely need one of these in my loft. What a perfect container for beers/sodas at a party!
Heed this.
Tommy and I got bored and he was weirded out by the older men staring at him so we went to Fiesta to finish out our sunny Sunday.Where we were delightfully surprised by this trainwreck! He could barely walk
. Now that is a Sunday Funday!
This is a guy named Joey who I met through Twitter! I never thought I would want/need more friends in my life, but ya never know what new people might bring to you. Especially now that I have some free time on my hands… and am looking for new business opportunities. I feel guilty about not seeing my good friends enough and have always had the shitty mentality of “I don’t need to make any new friends, I can’t even keep up with the ones I have now.” But I have a different outlook on life now. Everything happens for a reason.
Tommy and I met Jason Curious and some other boys at Basix for a quick breakfast this morning before we hit our meeting with the PR company. I inhaled my eggs benedict since I had only eaten a handful of Pringles for dinner last night. We spent the better part of Friday planning the rest of our launch parties and booking all of the travel for the upcoming trip to New Orleans! I can’t tell you how excited I am to be going to NOLA for Mardi Gras. The gay end of Bourbon Street is not even going to know what hit it. I finished up a few hours of work stuff and then we headed to Fiesta Cantina for a quick snack. I was not about to ruin my dinner at Cut by filling up on nachos. (Although I did a number on the queso and dips)
Ok, let’s move onto the important things in life. I met Nikki Benz, Puma Swede and Diana Doll for dinner in Beverly Hills at Wolfgang Puck’s Cut steakhouse. You know how I feel about this place if you have been following me for a few weeks. The menus at the LA location are a great concept, except that the portraits of the celebrities are all fairly unflattering. I wonder who the photographer is. I could look it up, but honestly, I think the pictures are kind of awkwardly ugly.
Nikki ordered the crab cocktail (too much mayonaise for my liking. I can’t believe I even said that. I love mayo)
Filet mignon carpaccio (notice the shaved black truffles on top)
The last time I ate the bone marrow flan I was gobbling it up so fast I didn’t even eat it the way it is supposed to be eaten! Apparently you put this mushroom tapenade on the toast and then put the flan on top. I made all three of the girls try it (reluctantly) and guess what? They all loved it. So for those of you who think I am disgusting and eat weird shit… don’t knock it til you try it.
And the love of my life, my soul mate: kobe beef sashimi. Again, all three of them tried it and loved it. So much so that I had to order another one for myself. Sheesh.
At this point, I was living in la-la land if I thought I would even put a dent in my steak. And AGAIN I fucked up and forgot to tell them to serve it to me on a cold plate. By the time it arrived it was waaaayyy overdone. I was annoyed at myself.
The most exciting part of my evening was guiding Nikki into ordering the American Wagyu beef and talking her into ordering it medium instead of medium well. She, like many many people, gets freaked out by the blood on the plate and orders their shit medium well or well done. It sends me into orbit knowing that a steak tastes SO MUCH BETTER on the rare side. If you can get past the texture and the color, you will never go back to well done. I promise you… when you are at a dinner with someone who eats their steak rare, just be brave and ask for a little taste. You will not regret it. I am trying, one steak eater at a time, to change the world.
Dessert was delicious marscapone filled donuts with strawberries and ice cream.
After our very late night dinner we went into the bar for a little bit and that is when I discovered this older woman attacking her date. Oh man, it was awesome. I had Nikki pose so I could capture them on the left side of the frame.
At this point, I am pretty sure she was onto me.
Two couples: me and Nikki are fighting and Puma and Diana are newlyweds.
Thanks girls for a fun night! Nikki drove me back to the Roosevelt where earlier I am 99.9% sure I was in the elevator with a famous rapper or hip hop artist. The Grammy’s are in town this weekend and the hotel is filled with famous musicians. Obviously none that I could identify. The cars in the valet are bright and have loud motors and hip-hop blaring out of them. Totally not my scene. Bling and baggy jeans. No thanks.
Tommy and his peeps from LA wanted to eat at On The Border for some god awful reason so we got the troops together and headed to Mission Valley. By the time we were halfway through brunch and had managed to offend everyone in the patio area sitting near us, the gay porn stars had decided to stay another night and were going to run around Hillcrest in Suite703 attire and continue promoting the relaunch. As you can imagine, this turned into utter chaos and debauchery. I will spare you most of the photos… I have the photos of the boys making out stashed on my computer for my private collection
There was an episode of Top Chef last season where they had to deconstruct classic dishes… this is deconstructed onion rings. lol (I would link to the episode but I STILL haven’t finished watching last season on dvr and I am afraid to go to their website.)
We then trekked over to Baja Betty’s and I saw the tiniest pair of UGG boots. I think they are so ugly… unless they are this size. Then they are ok.
The boys were sick of Mexican food so we decided to eat some grub at Ono Sushi. I have eaten there no less than 100 times and know everyone so I immediately walked in and apologized in advance to the manager Mark for what was about to happen. He bought us a vat of cold sake and we ordered a shitload of delicious sushi. I love that place and the best rolls there are the Triple Fantasy and the Munchi Roll. Dee-LISH!
I ducked out super early and gave Tommy money to entertain the boys for the rest of the night … We need to hire a babysitter.
The morning began with me at Ralph’s trying to take the shopping cart outside of the store and being told by a really hot guy that they wheels lock up when they hit the sidewalk. Oh I bet I looked cool ramming my gut into the handle. The cab driver picked me up and of course my guests were arriving for the biscuits and gravy challenge on time. Ugh. Tommy was here to redeem himself from the debacle of the dessert party challenge. He had claimed that his biscuits and gravy were better than Chris’s. Long story short, they were but everyone except me was too afraid to vote for Chris over Tommy. I can say this freely because Chris does not read my blog. So F him.
Tommy’s (saltier and yummier but he cheated and his Mom made the biscuits)
Chris’s (you would think he would have won because he served it with bacon, but the salt was missing from the gravy)
We ate a bunch, drank more champagne and wine, suffered through no dishwasher at my new place (NOT the way to live!) and watched a few episodes of Top Chef Las Vegas. (yes I know, the season has been over for quite some time. I am a very busy woman)
We then headed to Hillcrest again for another evening of recruiting for our project. Jessica the bartender from the Chee-Chee was at Baja Betty’s, random as hell. It appears as though I am stalking her now.
We ended up at Fiesta Cantina, of course and naturally I licked someone. huh? ok time for bed missy.
Chris and Rich adopted me for the night and I passed out on their couch at 8 pm. They woke me up for snacks at 9pm and then again at 10pm. I love my friends who worry about my malnourishment.
Don’t you love how all of the links in the last week have been the same fucking places. Ugh, those people must be sick of me.
I had dinner at Taka Sushi with 714 who is moving to 619 in a few weeks. I have known this guy for many years and hadn’t seen him in a while so it was nice to catch up with him and of course with dinner came lots of sake and turned into a pub crawl. Star Bar, Bareback and what night wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the Chee-Chee. I know the bartender Jessica at the Chee-Chee and every time I go in there now she introduces me to one of my new neighbors. Jessica used to work for Naughty America and I ran into her a few months ago in North Park and she is now my neighborhood bartender. It’s quite a co-ink-ee-dink. I went into work late on Wednesday and I am so ticked off that I missed the 5.9 earthquake! Sandee brought me a plate of leftover pork from her Christmas dinner. I can never get enough pig in my life.
After work I met Jarin and Dusty at the Star Bar (yes, again). I always laugh when I go in there and see the bottles with Sharpie prices on them. Notice how cheap they are!
In other news…. I am beyond excited about the resurrection of our gay porn site Suite 703 in a few weeks. We have been working furiously on getting it back up and running and we are so close to the relaunch. I absolutely love love love watching gay porn, and I get all tingly down there when I see two hot guys making out and going at it. There is a project within this project which is FORCING me to hang out in Hillcrest and bar hop and try to find the right person for the job we are creating. I can’t get into details just yet, but it’s going to be awesome and Tommy and I have been spending an enormous amount of time together working on it. I can’t believe I get paid to do this job sometimes.
On Wednesday evening we hit Fiesta Cantina, Urban Mo’s and Bourbon Street. We have a lot of leads of potential people but nothing concrete yet. The only thing that is concrete is the feeling of getting hit in the head with concrete when I woke up after drinking on a school night. UGH. 2 nights in a row and now New Year’s Eve/Day is coming up. oh boy.
I Love you!
