boyshapedbox

"Jp had a......visitor.", originally uploaded by boyshapedbox.

"When you read this you're tagged. Take a picture of you in your current state, no changing your clothes or quickly putting on makeup. NO PHOTOSHOP. Show your F-List the real you!"





I still read LJ everyday! Posting just seems to be very infrequent. So much to talk about with little time to craft posts.

"Me & Hot Phil", originally uploaded by boyshapedbox.

Click to see the full set. I'd love to hear what you think of the photos.

So this weekend Mattacuda and I flew up to Portland to rock their tits off* with our 4th Bearracuda there. It was also a much needed chance to hang out with my childhood best friend basis/Rob. I got to go on a bike ride, go hiking, and have a 3.5 hour dance party complete with photo sessions/Vogue Battles/Blast From the Past music selection/ and animal costumes.

The dance party was his roommate's "Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh my!" party where you were encouraged to dress up like an animal. Here is him as a lion with his 3 roommates in a family portrait:




The party was like that party scene in Mean Girls, just GAYER.




Bearracuda Portland was crazy as usual, except this time we had 2 floors and about 500+ people show up. It was packed by 10pm! Sam Storicks, The Rude Dudes, and I kept the floors filled with sweaty and furry dancing bodies all night long until we had to kick people out.


What a fun trip!
I'm exhausted!




*Mission accomplished

putzmeisterbear and a few others asked for more photos of Jonah from my last post, so I found these that I took a while ago, with his two amazingly hot and wonderful boyfriends, Frank and Chris. Three of my favorite people in this world. :)

As I wait out the last couple hours before my Upper Endoscopy AND Colonoscopy this afternoon I figured I'd answer an "Ask Me Anything in March" question!

First question is from heypyro and he asks: What are your rules to friendship?

It makes sense that since he's probably the best question asker with this LJ meme the first question would have to be as epic and thought provoking as this one.

At first I didn't think I had any rules to friendship but after giving it some thought I realized I do and that they are much simpler than I originally figured.

Rule #1: Humor

Ever since I was little, making friends was easy. I learned that if I stayed true to myself, stayed comfortable in my skin, and leaned on my humor and storytelling I could attract people to me. So the friends I have usually are also great story tellers and see humor in a lot of different things. That doesn't mean they have to be "on" all the time, or be larger than life. I have a few friends that are fairly quiet, and only give a random snippet of a soundbite. But when they do, MAKE SURE you are not in the middle of drinking anything because it's usually comedy gold.

Rule #2: Debbie Downers vs. Upbeat Wonders

I'm not saying you have to be a stick in the mud, but I'm a FIRM believer that what your put out there you get back. And if all you do is whine, complain, stab people in the back, start drama, one up everything, and make people uncomfortable I'm probably not going to call you a friend. Who wants to surround themselves with that toxic poison? There is WAY too much to be happy about in this world.
(This doesn't mean you can't come to me with problems, QUITE the opposite. I'm just talking about the people who ask you how you are only to cut you off to be negative about EVERYTHING)

Rule #3: Don't take yourself so seriously

Come with me to the Lonestar for a beer, and then maybe afterward we can catch a drag show, or be IN a drag show, or go to a club that we might have never gone to where the music is awesome but we might not fit in with the crowd. We can go hiking, or we can go Gem Sweater shopping and see Leslie Hall perform.
WHO THE FUCK CARES WHAT OTHERS THINK
DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO :)

Rule #4: Out of sight out of mind, but not out of heart.

I have a full-time job from 9:30am-7:30pm mon-friday, plus I DJ a lot and I help out with every Bearracuda. I also have a wonderful boyfriend and a giant group of amazing friends. While I am trying to make 2010 my year of "prioritizing, pairing down, and getting out of my routine" it is a slow journey. My real friends know that whenever we see each other we can pick right back up where we left off. Whether that was yesterday, or 5 years ago, you are a friend for life and I love you.

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It's March, so that means it's Ask Me Anything Month.

Post your question here. Comments are screened and I will not refer to you in posting my answer if you specify not to.

Electronic Music Bears asked me to submit a DJ mix for their podcast a few months ago and it's available for download!

EMB Podcast


Mix Description:
"For this mix, because it is meant to be heard outside of a club, I decided that I wanted to use it as something of a selfish/creative release for me where I choose house music that I also love but don't get to play outside of my ipod. A concoction of Electro House, Fidget House, Ghetto House, and Wonk House, these are songs that sway a little more grind-ey and rough than what people may have heard from me so far. Still most importantly fun, energetic, with the bit of the familiar, here is a mix of songs that got me excited and pumped when I found them but I haven't played a lot or at all for anyone yet. Enjoy!"

Lately I have been spending a lot of time trying to seek out stuff that really inspires me artistically while also trying to pin down the works/looks that I'm already inspired by.

Through all the mediums I can think of to create art it is Photography that I keep coming back to. That doesn't mean it's my favorite thing to make myself, but I love the concept that something as simple as taking a snapshot of time will ALWAYS be completely different from person to person, moment to moment.
Now yes, you can stage a photo, maybe a still life, and take a ton of photos that are exactly the same. What I'm talking about are the people who carry their camera around with them and capture life as it happens, planned/staged or not.

Aesthetically I tend to go for simple, clean compositions and great use of color and light.

( Examples of photographs I find inspiring )

I'm finding that taking a moment to pin down what it is I find inspiring aesthetically helps me catalog it in my brain to use later. It also immediately starts to meld with/remind me of other things that also visually inspire me that I had forgotten about.

I walked down to Church St. station this morning to head to work and I witnessed the largest Muni SNAFU I have ever seen. Joy of joys.

Apparently neither the J or the N could enter to the underground behind Safeway, AND all the underground trains couldn't move because of an all station stop due to computer malfunction.



Here is my view from the inbound platform.


The entire inbound side of the station (even the areas where the train doesn't stop) were packed with people.


All the officers and Muni-esque officers were told to just send everyone to Church St. Station so that there weren't a hundred people wandering the streets looking for cabs. But when they got there they quickly found out that the underground wasn't moving either. Church Station turned into a disgruntled holding tank. The above photo is a view from the street of the stream of people all headed towards the ALREADY packed Church Station.

Wow. What a nightmare.

Now back to you Diane.