9/10 Theory

Okay so why do gas prices end in 9/10?
I know it means nine tenths of a cent, but why did they initially invent that?
...and if that stands to reason - then shouldn't you get the penny difference for every ten gallons you fill up?

Some things in life, I'll never understand.

Brandon Baker
504-319-6487
...this message sent from my PocketPC.

Boy of the Moment - Underwater Boys

Silver Robin

Robin didn't wear silver.
...when was that?

Even in the movie with Chris O'Donnel playing Robin (Batman and Robin) his outfit wasn't silver.
Was this a promotion I missed or costume that never made it?
ARGH!

Angel's First Shoot

...that's what I will be saying when he shoots a load from getting fucked too for the first time.

Angel just finished shooting his first segment for Fuji TV.
YEA!
He just called after he was done shooting today in Hollywood.

He shot five hours to get 15 minutes of footage.

This was about celebrity baby clothes.
The lady who was on TV at the store he was shooting the segment with was mentioning her celebrity clients such as Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Katie Homes, and Angelina Jolie.

He said, "After today, I don't want to go back to retail."
I hear that.
(I only did retail for a short time when I was in high school, but I would rather stay away from retail as well.)

I watched a segment last night on VH1 about celebrity pre-nuptiuals and thought of Angel.
(...poor Harrison Ford and Steven Speilberg. (No pre-nups on napkins!) They got gipped! Fuckin' bitch ass first wives. ...and no one messes with Donald Trump huh? ...and now for Jessica Simpson - that sucks!)

He said he was going to shoot his opening segment next week too.
I think he said it was going to be like him running up and down and around the Hollywood sign - that's hot!
I can just see it now!
...LOVE IT!

I am SO EXCITED for Angel and this HOT gig in Japan.
Go ahead!
YEA!
*jumps up and down*

Lizard Spit

Somehow my drink today from Taco Bell in my office lunch order got mixed up and instead of iced tea I got Diet Pepsi.
YUCK!
My aunt used to say, "Diet Coke tastes like lizard spit."
I always wondered, "Why has my aunt tasted lizard spit? That's gross."

Now, even though I have not tasted lizard spit, I have to agree with her on all diet sodas - LIZARD SPIT.
My diet soda tastes like lizard spit.

"Pass the Red Bull please. Thank you very much."

Jenna Over Britney

There were more searches for Janna Jameson than Britney Spears.
I love porn!

There were 1,859,429 individual searches for the name Jenna Jameson in the month of February, compared with 1,529,227 for Britney Spears, according to Overture (http://inventory.overture.com). Jessica Simpson attracted 1,162,455 queries in February, Beyoncé Knowles had 1,097,843, Pamela Anderson had 755,904 and Shakira registered 644,901, according to Overture.

Office Dogs

Is it just me or do you think it's becoming more normal for dogs to come to the office with owners?

Maybe it's just in the porn industry.
...then it's the gay magazines too, I think - that's the ticket.

I mean in the office I work in (Cybersocket Magazine) there are three to four dogs every day.
In the QVegas (Las Vegas' Gay and Lesbian Magazine) office there are dogs.
In the GayChicago Magazine office there are gates and dogs.
When I did the shoot AGES ago with Drew Warner there was a porn puppy on set. (...but wait, I think he lived at the studio too?)
I keep seeing pooches on property...

At least in this office, the dogs are like Hiltons.
They are spoiled.
The owners will ask one of the assistants to take the dog for a walk and BAM! - out they go with one of the assistants.
It's kinda funny.
"Come here, Miss. Hil-dog-ton."

NEWS: Bathhouses Not Sex Venues, Suit Says

Bathhouses Not Sex Venues, Suit Says

Owners fight L.A. County over new rules aimed at providing more oversight of businesses that allow high-risk activities.

By Rong-Gong Lin II, Times Staff Writer
March 12, 2006

Underwear "always optional" here, boasts one ad, offering three floors of pleasure, the hottest men and erotic theme nights.

Another ad in the Los Angeles gay magazine Frontiers features a bare-chested worker, his utility belt bulging with condoms, with the logo, "play safe—condoms are always FREE." And in a third, a muscular man wearing nothing but a baseball cap and underwear rests his hand in a provocative manner.

Whatever these self-described bathhouses and sex clubs are, their owners want you to know that they are definitely not the sort of "commercial sex venues" that the county is targeting for increased oversight.

We "are not commercial sex venues at all," nine gay bathhouses and sex clubs said in a lawsuit filed March 3 against Los Angeles County.

"That's a lie," said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who has been pushing county health officials to step up oversight over such businesses. "What are people going to do? Play chess?"

Beginning this month, the county is requiring "commercial sex venues" to obtain a county health license, pay an annual fee of more than $1,000, allow quarterly inspections and provide on-site testing and counseling for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases for at least 20 hours a week.

The county defines a commercial sex venue as a business that "as one of its primary purposes allows, facilitates and/or provides facilities for its patrons or members to engage in any high-risk sexual contact while on the premises."

But that definition doesn't fit these nine bathhouses and sex clubs, the lawsuit contends, because they have "always sought to prevent high-risk sex."

The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, asks a judge to void the regulations or exempt the nine bathhouses and sex clubs.

"We don't meet the definition," said Scott Campbell, president of Midtowne Spa in downtown L.A. and two other bathhouses in the county. "We have disclaimers letting [patrons] know that unsafe sex is not allowed, and we provide condoms."

Asked about the lawsuit's contention, a county health official chuckled.

A commercial sex venue "doesn't mean that they are promoting high-risk sex; it just means it does occur," said John Schunhoff, the county's chief of operations for public health.

Campbell did not deny that unsafe sex occurs at bathhouses and he could not cite an instance of someone being ejected from one of his establishments for practicing unsafe sex.

"It's very difficult for us to know if people are doing that, short of taking a flashlight and looking at what everyone is doing," Campbell said. "To me, whatever people are going to do, they're going to do wherever they go."

The suit also cites constitutional objections to the rules. It accuses the county of violating "the fundamental right of peaceful assembly, expression and privacy," and imposing "excessive fines and cruel and/or unusual punishment."

Outside the Hollywood Spa, a bathhouse represented in the lawsuit, patron Marc Marcino was matter-of-fact.

Unprotected sex occurs all the time at such facilities, he said, whatever the warning signs say.

"If I go into a bathhouse, I expect to see guys doing that," Marcino said on a quiet side street a block west of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.

The new rules target the county's 11 known sex clubs and bathhouses, including the nine that sued. They were inspired by a county study in 2003 showing that bathhouse patrons were far more likely to test positive for HIV than other gay or bisexual men countywide.

Technically, the county has had the power to shut down bathhouses for years, but the old rules were so weak as to be unenforceable, officials have said.

The nine bathhouses and sex clubs that participated in the lawsuit are moving forward with the requirement for HIV testing and counseling. Some said they already were offering such services.

The county will pick up the tab for providing test kits and running lab tests.

Weinstein, an outspoken and sometimes controversial figure in AIDS prevention, said the facilities' arguments against the new regulations strain credulity.

"They're going to turn themselves into a laughingstock," he said.

MEMORY LANE: AVN 2004

Here's a photo from way back when, this was the AVN convention in 2004.
Officially two years ago in January, I do declare.

I don't know if I have posted this before or not, but let me see if I can name most of the boys. From left to right...
Dick Wolf (HOTTIE! I heard he gained some weight. HOT!)
I don't know who that was, but man, he's big!
Brandon Baker or something, let me tell you what I heard about him...
Rod Barry
Colin O'Neal
Rob Ramoni
Ace Hanson, or is it Hansen? Doesn't matter, he's fuckin' GORGEOUS!
Someone else in front of Ace and Rob, I don't know...
Johan Paulik with I think, Amy from Paladin Video on their knees in front. (Imagine that.)
Crystal Crawford back there with DC Chandler from Studio2000.
Brad Patton with his HOT body on the right.
Trey Rexxx kneeling with his abs of death.
Who's that in the leather hat on the photo right?
On the far right, it's Alex McCollak with HotHouse, if I can get it any more butchered.

All these porn stars were at distributed under a label that Paladin held or currently holds. (Citiboyz, Titan, HotHouse, Colt, Studio2000, JetSet, Arena, etc.)
Paladin was the people who bought and held that booth at the AVN (Adult Video News) convention two years ago.

*whew*
Now that we have another installment of "Name-That-Porn-Star" completed, that another trip down 'Memory Lane' for me too...

Boy of the Moment - Random MySpace Cutie

I don't know who this is or where I found him, I think it was on www.MySpace.com, but he's kinda cute huh?

PONDER THIS!

There is never a right way to do the wrong thing.

Schedule Changes: Deleted Costa Rica

27Mar06 DELETED COSTA RICA

Jason Carter and I are both too busy to justify taking a trip to Costa Rica right now. We have tentatively rescheduled it for November. I have put Los Angeles in the place of that hoping that all my Los Angeles apartment stuff works out and I can move into that.

It is extra HOT that the flights don't cost me anything, well, except for taxes, to fly to places like that, so it's an incredible convenience to be able to flip my schedule like this.

Jason had found a deal that he is familiar with that was something like $330.00 for 5 days or something like that, so at least we can do that again.

I will be in Los Angeles for the weekdays that I was going to be in Costa Rica and I will probably go somewhere else on the weekend special.

I am going to be in Phoenix with one of my bosses so this way we can even stay and do Phoenix Pride if we decide to.

Who knows where I will land?

...and even when I do, I question THAT.

*wink*

Boys of the Moment

I just realized that these look like boys you would find in Benjamin Nicholas' journal and his eye candy section, so if you have seen these before, you know we are cruising the same sites for boys! *wink*
If not, good for me.

DJ Blair Q - Ghost Photo

[16:00] PartyWithBrandon: What are you up to?
[16:00] djblairq: just lookin at this spooky picture my mother took at an old mental ward
[16:01] PartyWithBrandon: I want to see!
[16:01] PartyWithBrandon: *wink*
[16:01] PartyWithBrandon: NOW!
[16:01] PartyWithBrandon: ...says the bossy bottom Brandon Baker.
[16:01] djblairq: www.djblairq.com/nurseghost.jpg
[16:01] djblairq: there was no one in the hallway

FYI - DJ Blair Q (New Orleans) is HOT! *wink

Cheapest Hooker

[15:51] Citiboyzvideo: I read an article yesterday about the cheapest hooker in the world
[15:51] PartyWithBrandon: Don't talk about me like that.
[15:52] PartyWithBrandon: What was it about?
[15:52] Citiboyzvideo: women and girls in Pakistan.. on some heavily travelled truck route.. 28 cents
[15:52] PartyWithBrandon: I mean, I know it's about the cheapest hooker, but...
[15:52] PartyWithBrandon: SHUT UP!
[15:52] PartyWithBrandon: NO WAY!
[15:52] PartyWithBrandon: 28 cents.
[15:52] PartyWithBrandon: At least she had some sense at the end of it.
[15:52] PartyWithBrandon: *woka-woka*
[15:52] Citiboyzvideo: http://www.sexualrecords.com/
[15:52] PartyWithBrandon: Where did you read that?
[15:53] PartyWithBrandon: Man, you beat me to everything.

Cute RentBoy - Vincent Romen

The Weekend in Pictures

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BB Boycott

Okay, so at first I thought, "Oh shit! I really did it this time."
Everyone in the office got a shirt in the mail that looked like this.
"OH NO! They are boycotting Brandon Baker! Run the other way!"

Now I realize that the company that sent them to them was against barebacking.
Ahhhhh...
It makes much more sense now.

Needless to say, I think I'll order one for myself.
In either case... check out http://www.tcbex.com

Construction Report

They are starting construction in my office this weekend. (...well it's not really MY office, it's thier office I am occupying.)
They are putting in cubiciles, it'll be like 'OFFICE SPACE'. I will be contained in a six by six space. I'm so excited. (Let them try to contain me! Just try!)
I think he said it will take about two weeks.

Goodbye snot green walls.
Goodbye loud annoying phone calls at the desk next door that go unanswered.
Goodbye leaning forward and laughing at a joke I wasn't supposed to hear. (oops...)
Goodbye no-storage-space-at-the-desk-in-the-corner.
Goodbye everyone-leaning-over-me-to-turn-up-the-air-conditioning. Sianara!

I did want to point out one of the more beautiful and artistic pieces of the Cybersocket Loft Offices - the skylight.
...with baby blue / green paper balls (...that remind me to take my Chinese food home today.)

I think he said we will be going wireless too.
(I guess I tripped one too many times. Wait - what am I talking about - I will be the one who can trip on a wire in a wireless office.)

There is so much going on.

Change

You can't really tell, but the sign on the side of this bus says, "Things Change."
It had a picture of two football helmets. One from the old days and one current helmet mentioning the move of the time or name of something football related. (See how well it worked for me to remember. YIKE!)

I don't know that I am accepting of it yet, but at times, I think things do change right in front of me.
I mean, come Monday, I will have a new place to live in a new city, with a new job (...not that new.) and a new car. (I trade in the rental for just a bit longer.) I even will probably have on new underwear.

I do believe that, just like in Final Destination, the signs are all around you.
I think we are blessed to have signs and we just have to be smart enough to see them.
I ususally don't see them until whatever is done and I was like, "Man, I should have seen this coming. There were signs all along."

This is a silly sign on the side of some random bus in Los freakin' Angeles.
Yes - I know that, but how often do YOU think you get help through the day? Do you even really think ABOUT it? Probably not.

...and I won't overdo it, but I got change from every transaction I did today. (Seriously though, how often do you have an even dollar amount transaction? Not very often, so I won't pay too much attention to that one.)
In cases like this, change is good. (Get it - money back. Good.)
*whoa.*

When I had to pack up the room today, I left everything on top of the TV except the change.

When I got in the car, the CHANGE OIL light came on. (...but only for a second to show it works. Thank goodness it didn't STAY on, that would be too much.)

Head Cock

Usually I am defending my cocky head.
This time it's about my head cock.

I have this thing where I always cock (*hehe* I said cock.) my head to one side.
Why is that?
I used to do it in my school pictures too.
I think it makes me look "gayer" too?
What's up with that?

Boy of the Moment - Daniel Jacob

What's with boys with two first names?
It doesn't matter - they are still hot? Wait - does two first names make you twice as hot? I FIGURED IT OUT!

Perpetual Kid

Every once in awhile I come across a shopping site that I truly fucking LOVE.
Today was that once in awhile.
Take a look at a called http://www.perpetualkid.com.
Dude, this is FABULOUS!
Feel free to order me anything you would like that you think I would like too. (...that was confusing, huh?)

I particularly like the COCKTAIL PARTY section, there was so much funny stuff.
This image is of some drink markers that help so you don't get your drinks confused. Ummm... if I wanted demons hanging from my drink, I think I have enough. No thanks. *wink*
The other section that made me laugh was the THINGS THAT SHOOT section. Is that where I would go? *wink*

I have this "thing" for retro hotel stuff like neon signs, and the old key tags and signs from the backs of old Holiday Inns and rugs, and well, you get the point, right? They have this cute clock from the "Flamingo Hotel" that's cute.
The Airline Lounge one is cool too.

What the fuck is this? The Ball of Population. I have no idea, but it's interesting nonetheless huh?

A Monitor Rearview Mirror? I could keep an eye on Jake all the time. Hummmm?

The Last Supper Dinner Mints - isn't that kinda considered SACRILEGE?

Bite the Bullet Mints - now that' fucking HOT! I need those. PRONTO! Two please!

Gummy Bacon? - GROSS! I think I just threw up in my mouth!

Rugs that look like sewer covers? Cool idea! Right on.

Okay, enough commentary, I am sure you have your own.
Really, the name fascinated me enough, PERPETUAL KID, yup, that's me.

Dictionary Lesson - Obsession

ob·ses·sion (pronounced "And-e" I don't care what they say.)

1. Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.
2. A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.

Science
An irrational preoccupation: fetish, fixation, mania. Informalthing. Seeconcern/unconcern.

Medical

ob·ses·sion (əb-sĕsh'ən, ŏb-)
n.

1. Compulsive preoccupation with an idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.
2. A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotionNeurologicalA persistent or recurrent thought, image, or impulse that is unwanted and distressing.

...and just in case you needed to know how to say it in another language:

Nederlands (Dutch)
obsessie, het geobsedeerd zijn

Français (French)
obsession

Deutsch (German)
n. - fixe Idee, Besessenheit

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. έμμονη ιδέα, μονομανία, συνεχής και επίμονη ενόχληση, (ψυχολ.) ιδεοληψία, ψυχαναγκασμός, ψύχωση

Italiano (Italian)
ossessione, tormento

Português (Portuguese)
n. - obsessão (f)

Русский (Russian)
поглощение идеией

Español (Spanish)
n. - obsesión

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - tvångsföreställning, fix idé

中国话 (Simplified Chinese)
n. - 迷住, 困扰

中國話 (Traditional Chinese)
n. - 迷住, 困擾

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 取りつくこと, 取りつかれること, 妄想, 強迫観念

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الاستحواذ, الهاجس‏

עברית (Hebrew)‬
n. -

Chinese Food Extravaganza

Help, I can't get enough...

I swear, like the three days, for one of the meals each day, I have had chow mein and rice with orange chicken and beef and broccolli.
...and it still tastes good.

Whether it's from Panda Express (...which by the way, is owned by McDonalds.) or the no-name scary place on the corner by my office, I need it, I want it, I can't be without it.

Crumpled Up

This is the post that would have been here about last night.
...crumpled up.

Boy of the Moment - Pretty Boy Tristan

My Little Mogwai

We have taken to calling Andy a "Mogwai".
Why would I do such a thing?
a) ...because he is about as hairy as the 1984 'Gremlins' movie character.
b) ...because he is as cute as the cute little legend.
c) ...because he is about as tall as the movieland driver. (...as seen in this shot from the movie.)
d) ...because when you get him wet (...with a cocktail or two.) or deprive either of them of food, they turn into a monster. (Although Andy can eat after midnight. In fact, he does alot after midnight. *wink*)

If I understand it right, the name of the specific character is "Gizmo" who is a "Mogwai" brand (?) of gremlin.
I still don't understand if they spawn these ugly other characters or if they turn into the other character.
I am going to have to get with the offical PartyWithBrandon pop-culture constultant to get this straight, but either way, Spike and Spike-Andy are a sight to behold.

2006 Grabby Nominations

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Boy of the Moment - Kyle and Malachi

It always make me chuckle, (...sometimes it makes me hard.) when I see two of my friends in porn.
As you can imagine, it happens often.

I saw this photo today and thought, "DAMN, that's hot!" then I thought, "DAMN, that's hotter 'cause it's Kyle and Malachi."

I met Kyle in Orlando awhile back. I don't know what he's up to lately.
I met Malachi briefly in New Orleans at Mardi Gras one time. If I am not mistaken, he's a mainstream model for one of the big fashion labels.

...and I believe that's on Tom's leather couch in Orlando. Tom does alot of photos and I heard he does his own site now. I'll have to see if I can track it down. He usually has really hot boys. Last time I was there, he got rightfully upset with me because I had a little party with the boys that were there with a lot of Chardonnay and Vicoden that ended up with the police being called 'cause we were too loud in the pool at 11:00pm. YIKE!

Regardless, this was a hot photo of Kyle and Malachi.

Cute RentBoy - Thomas

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Brandon and Andy on the Red Carpet

http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheTimAndRomaShow


This is "podcast" of the Tim and Roma show with Sister Roma on the Red Carpet before the awards.
The editing is GREAT and provides for an absolutely attention keeping 40 minutes of hijinks and hilarious porn stars.

I am at mark 10:28 looking stupid but funny on the red carpet.
I am just glad I did not trip on it.

Andy is at mark 10:59 to 11:04 and is as cute as a button.

Sister Roma (Sisters of Perpertual Indulgence) was WONDERFUL! WOW! She was FABULOUS! I want her all over Hollywood.
Pete Ross brought his parents? That's hot! Kudos!
Mark Nagel, Stacy Bridges, Peter Dixon and Big Daddy of Gay Chicago were great too on the red carpet feeling Peter Dixon up. LOVE IT!
Billy Masters is OUT OF CONTROL and SUPER. He made me laugh as always.
Brad Benton looked HOT, he's got a slick personality. I like him.
I saw Howard Marr from Ft. Lauderdale too, YEA!

XY Magazine Website

Check out XY Magazine's website at www.xy.com.
I think it's cool, 'cause X and Y are the chromosome pair that genetically make up a male. (...at least I hope I got that right.) Cute choice for a name. I also like the name for the Generation X and Generation Y. (They CAN live in harmony!)
The website and the magazine are full of cute, young boys.
It's a very biased magazine, but the boys are still hot.
I picked up the newest issue, which is not on the website yet as of now, titled "Shocking".
The even hotter, and not as glossy, XY Foto, is on issue 6, winter, and is filled with boys that are borderline porn. The Foto issue is called "Exibitionism."
I noticed that in the Foto Issue there are some "recycled" images. I mean, there are some images that are in other back issues. I know I have seen the same images before in the same publication.
The magazines have gone up in price, but I still shelled it out, the price of the magazine is $7.99 and the "Foto" issue is $9.99. ...but you know, get out your tens baby, it's worth it for the print psuedo-porn to land on your coffee table.
The site attracts lots of cuties and logging on, you can see what I mean in the profiles section.

IM

I got a cool IM this morning.
No, not cool - HOT!

[11:36] HIM: thanks for a good website, ive jerked off to it a few times
[11:49] PartyWithBrandon: No thank YOU for saying that.

Part of the reason I do what I do is because this exact thing turns me on.
I like to think of guys jerking off while looking at my pictures.

If that makes me vain - that's okay.
If that makes me vapid - that's understandable.

Morning Has Broken

I mean - broken.
...like fell apart.
At least it is one of those mornings, when I am like, "Oh well, it will work out." instead of flipping out.
...and then yet in the middle of all the craziness, my text message indicator went off.
It was a message from Omen. Andy's --- boyfriend? ex-boyfriend? I don't know. I "heard" that they broke up, but I don't know that it is true. It could just be the difference of a few drinks for either one of them. I know everything I hear is not true and I haven't talked to either of them yet, so I don't know. I don't want to know.

The message said,
"Congrats on ur victory against all odds against u. Tell Angel the same 4 me."
How nice is that?

I have a strange relationship with Omen too. (I don't want to say "relationship" 'cause it's NOTHING like I have with Andy, but by definition, it's a relationship.)
I mean I get so jealous that he has a part of Andy that I want.
I saw them kiss once outside the hotel and about lost it.
So you'd think something like: Brandon loves and lusts Andy. Andy loves Brandon. Andy lusts (...and loves?) Omen. Brandon has contempt for Omen but doesn't hate him, but knows that's the best role. Andy gets everything.
...and I joke that I can't be around him, but in reality - he's a good kid.
I tried everything - I tried to have him around me so it was in face at the hotel. It was too much.
I tried to have him banned from the hotel. It only worked for a day.
I tried to just deal with it as it came and let me tell you - it went.
Poor thing, didn't do a thing wrong and I want to hit him in face with a crobar.

There's been a couple of times that were crazy though.
...and I'll be the first to admit, he's hot.
Once we went to this sushi place with my friend and Andy said, "Can Omen come?" I said, "FUCK NO!" and hung up when the call was done. In about two minutes I thought, "That was rude of me, I should not be the one making those decisions, so I called my friend and said, "Do you mind if Andy's little boyfriend comes too?" and he said "No, that's fine." So great, now I have dinner with Andy the little shit. He got there and I said, "Don't sit too close to me. Watch your seat, I sawed the legs off and give me your chopsticks. I will be using them as weapons." You know, I liked being sarcastic but it just didn't feel right. Don't get me wrong though, I didn't stop and it was F-U-N!
One of the most memorable ones for me though was when were all driving to Anaheim or something to go party. It was the first time I REALLY had done something with Omen around understanding that Andy and him were boyfriends. Angel was driving. I was slumped down in the passenger seat when the two of them jumped over the seat and fucked right there. Then after I wiped off the windows and Angel took a breath, they came back up and said, "Hello." I said, "Hello." About 10 minutes later, they jumped back there again and did it again.
One other time, I woke up and they were on the couch in the living room. He said, "Don't step on my phone." I said, "What phone? Oh this one, and slammed my foot right next to it really hard over and over." *hehehe* (I CRACK MYSELF UP!)
Yet another time, when Andy was supposed to meet me in New York, he apparently had some omen or another and decided to go to the same city with Omen instead for the first couple of days. I was really mad then, but I got over it.
When the GayVN's were about to start, my friend Marc and I walked to Rage Nightclub from the hotel after Andy came in and took a shower. Andy had left and I must have missed saying goodbye, so I was sad. Then I walked over there and saw Andy at the car of Omen. Not a good omen for me. I was hurt, then upset then over it before I took the next step.
Still another time I wanted to shake Omen's hand was when he came to the door a few days ago and was like, "Where's Andy?" and thought, "I don't know, he was on the couch when I left him last night to back out." and I remembered I had just rolled over and seen the e-mail that said Andy was on his way to San Francisco. Omen said, "Lies. You are his best friend, he tells you everything. Where is he." I said, "Honey, that's where he told me he was."
The other day at TigerHeat (...did I blog this already?) Angel said, "Omen is here, you should say hi to him. He wants to say hi to you." I was like, "Ummmm...does he know who I think I am? When I make it that way, I will acknowledge his presence if I so deem it necessary." (Okay, that's not what I said, but it was close.) When I did make it that way, after thinking, "DAMN he looks hella hot." I said, "What's up?" and he danced and talked for a few moments and it was peachy.
...and the last Story of O, that I have for you is this one, the most powerful one. I was drunk texting one evening in New Orleans and texted the fool something like, "Andy is right here, he was just talking about you and how fondly he thinks of you. You better take good care of him." and Omen texted back something to the effect of, "Why would I not, he's a good person. I will let him do what he wants and then be there for him when he is back." and it hit me like a ton of bricks - I thought I was the only one who would do that. I am in the same boat, different chair, with Omen about Andy. We both think he is beautiful and just want him to be him. When Omen said that, "I thought, wow, he really does care about Andy and not just sex." Although ALL I hear from Andy is about how hot it is." I had to give the little shit some credit there.

Okay, blah, blah... I don't know what's up with the two of them.
For all I know, they fuck in the bed while I am at work.
Reality is probably that both of them care about each other and that's enough to deal with WHATEVER either one of them gives to me to deal with.

I THINK he knows and I am NEVER, EVER going to admit it - but I do think he's oaky.

WOW! ...all of that just from the mere fact that I wanted to draw attention to the text message Omen sent to me, that meant alot.
...back to that - man, this marathon thing is WAY more powerful than I thought.
It needs to have warning documents associated with it.

What is going on here?
No really, what is going on here?

Brenden and Brandon in Hot Water

After Brenden helped me finish all my laundry and we went back to the hotel, we decided that we would jump in the hot tub and then I would take him back to where he was staying.
It's hard to see in this photo 'cause of the steam.

Brenden and Brandon Do Laundry

...at least something was clean around us.
*wink*

In one of the photos, BrendenMichael is trying to figure out what "Squirt" tastes like. "Well my dear..."

The photo of the laundry soap is ALL I needed.

The photo of the back of my phone is from a cute sticker from Finding Nemo that he gave me and said, "You are my Dory." Great, I am lesbian fish.

...and as always, here's a photo that shows my laundry going 'round and 'round.

Sign and Wine

How nice is this?
The staff at the inn we are staying at got me this beautiful gift (...some wine) for finishing the Los Angeles Marathon. (The letter says staff, but I am leaning towards Mike representing the staff.)
Mike, one of the cute front desk guys, surprised me this gift tonight when Brenden and I were in the hotel hot tub.
What a nice gesture from them, I mean, he did not have to do that.
...and man, if all I have to is hobble around a bit to get some free wine, I am going to do it more often.
JUST KIDDING!

I really did not realize how crazy I was until today when I heard two people DID die from running the marathon, and that one had a heart attack and is in critical care.
What also made me realize how crazy my decision was is that when Angel said he heard on the news about the medical cases, he heard that only half of one percent of the population will ever do a marathon in thier lives.
What was I thinking?

Back to my Roots

Uh-oh!
One of the guys in my office said, "Brandon, you're hair is getting dark. Time to dye it again."
I said, "I'm going back to my roots."
*wink*

Race Results

I went online and foungd these results:

BRANDON BAKER (MAR)
BIB #27819
LAS VEGAS, NV - USA
AGE
M

START 8:29:01 AM PST
10K 1:26:30
HALF 3:27:15
30K 5:15:18
FINISH 08:49:43
Chip Time: 08:49:43
Clock: 09:03:59
Pace: 20:12

Placement

Overall: 19842
Gender: 12222
Division: 1258

Marathon Runner

"The race is long, but in the end, it's only with yourself."
I think I heard that in that Baz Luhrman song, but you know what?
It's true.
So true, it hurts.

This is going to be a long one, so grab a drink and make sure you are sitting down for this one.

The Basics

Yesterday I ran (I walked most of the way.) the Los Angeles Marathon with my friend Angel Benton.
It is 26.2 miles, the fourth largest in the country.
Now that it is done, I will tout it as one of the most powerful things I have ever done in my life.

"Feel the Burn"

I hurt so bad today.
The pain in my feet is unreal.
I can only walk by like swinging my feet out, putting pressure on them and "stepping" hurts so bad.

Encouraging Encouragement

All through the race, people that I have no idea who they were and what they were about were offering words of encouragement.
So many people were like, "I am running the race for [insert person or cause here]." Kudos to them.
Some were rather like, "I am running this race for personal reasons and I don't care how long it took me to finish, I just wanted to finish it."
I kept thinking, "I am in it, just to be here. I don't have a real reason."
What was most encouraging is when I saw people on crutches, wheelchairs and other serious handicapping in the track. UNBELIEVABLE! I wish I could personally pat them all on the back.

The Problem

Yea, the fact that I didn't train a single day - yea that was a problem. A big one.
When someone asked what I was running for, I did not know what to say? I ran it for... I don't know. I just woke up on Thursday and thought, "Angel should not do that by himself, I will do it too."
I did not do it for myself, I didn't really identify a 'cause I was doing it for.
I just did it to be social.
...and this my friends is one of my biggest problems in life.
I think of the social aspects of stuff and forget to think of reality.
This is just one example. I just thought, "Oh I will do that with Angel and wear and RentBoy Shirt and everyone will see it and it will be peachy."
I did not think, "Brandon, it's 26.2 miles and you hate walking upstairs to a second floor apartment." or "Brandon, people train for months to be able to do this in Pascal shape and you drink do enough drugs to stun a yak!"
I am in awe that I am not dead.

Fast and Furious - Marketing on the Track

Of course, I couldn't ONLY be worried about dying out there, when I ran by several of the sponsors marketing attractions, I was like, "WOW! That's hot!"
A few that stood out in my headÂ… (Â…not my feet!)
The Heist - The new movie had a group of like 9 guys dressed like secret service agents on the sidelines in dark glasses and dark business suits standing still with brief cases facing us with the words, "The Heist'. How cool is that. WELL DONE!
Sprint had a booth by where David lives in Carthay Circle that had a bunch of boys and girls holding SprintPCS cell phones and banners that said, "Make a call on us." FABULOUS! That was awesome. What made it better was all the eye candy. It looked like Sprint raided the local high schools for the hottest boys and girls to stand out there holding phones for us to use. HOT!
Micholob beer was waiting for me at the end of the race after I got the medal to give a six pack of beer for finishing. I had two gone before I got to the car. (Angel drove, besides my feet couldn't work to push the pedal.)

Tracking Us

There was a company that made "ChampionChips" and tracked us the whole time.
They had these computer chips that we had to put on our shoes and when we were running, tracked us and our time.
All through the race, you could track us on the internet.
I think our time was like 5.75 hours or something crazy like that.

Quitting is not an Option

All through the race I did not want to ever quit. That's not in my nature.
I mean, I came close in thought, but I would have completed the race even if it took me a whole day. I knew that if other people could do it, I could.
Â…at many intervals, all I wanted to do was stand still. Nothing hurt when I did that.
Angel said, "The minute you stand still, lactic acid builds up and it will hurt more when you get going." At that time, I didn't care.
What was more upsetting to me was that I joined this so that I could support Angel and then it totally turned around and I caused more work for him supportinging me. I was so unhappy with that, that made me want to not have done it in the first place. All I wanted to do was good, and then I caused more work. I don't say that to make anyone feel bad for me, in fact, you should feel the opposite.
Angel is an AMAZING person and all though the race when I said, "Go ahead, I know I am holding you back, you'd be done already honey." he said, "I am not leaving you behind."
Seriously, two or three times, I wanted to beat him in the head and say, "Go, I'm not going to quit silly, I will just meet you in a day or so."

Tears of Something

At first I did not want to say this and I specifically instructed Angel (What a good name for him.) not to tell anyone, but I will since I have such strong feelings about this event in my life. (I just hate admitting silly things.)
I think it was mile 19, I broke down and I cried. I don't do that very often. If I do, noone sees it.
I'm still very embarrassed, because I don't think Angel should have had to deal with me, he was already dealing with enough.
I was not particularly sad or upset at the time, I guess my emotions just got the better of me.
I don't REALLY even know why still. I just started crying and saying something like, "This is silly, go ahead and I will catch up with you." Angel said, "It's okay, honey, you need it, this brings people to the physical breaking point." Later he said, "You were not crying because of that." I think I know what he meant, but I like to think not. *wink*
Then another time, like at mile 24, I just broke down again and cried uncontrollably so people stopped and said, "Are you okay? You will make it." I don't even know why I was crying.
I was so emotional and so distraught but not like when I am upset or sad. What the fuck? It was one of the strangest and most uncomfortable things I have ever dealt with.
I had to throw up a couple of time, but small enough that I just swallowed it back so that I did not cause a scene in front of anyone.

You remember that Eminem Movie recently called 8 Mile?
It's about Eminem becoming a DJ and acheiving his dreams.
I didn't have dreams or anything but I did think when I crossed mile 8 or 8 Mile, "Holy crow, what's going on!"
In the movie 8 Mile is the road represented the boundry where he needed to be. In real life 8 Mile Road is the boundry between East Pointe and East Detroit. Detroit is a hard-pressed city where the people's dreams are much harder to attain and East Pointe is an easier life. He needed to cross 8 Mile, his boundry and become what he wanted to be.
This situation was WAY not that serious, but I did think how interesting.
...being from Detroit helped too.

12-Year Old Brilliance

At mile 25 Angel and I were moving as slow as turtles and we both hurt.
Angel's was mostly his sunburn because I made him stay in the sun so long. (Truthfully, he would have been done MUCH earlier that I, if I was not such a mess.)
As I just passed under the 25 mile marker, I stood and thought, "This is dumb, what am I really doing this for?" and two 12-year old girls that had just finished came and stood on each side of me and said, "Come on, you can do it. You are almost there." I was like, "What is going on? No really, what is going on." The girls walked, rather hobbled, into the finish live with me. One of them said, "How long did you train for this?" I said, "Train?" She said, "We have been training for 5 months, and I know it hurts, but we know you can do it."
I was amazed at the strength of people in so many ways.

No Pain, No Gain

The physcial hurt is one thing. Physcially, I hurt worse than anything I have ever felt.
Still, the emotions that I could not control were another. I am still beside myself at the way this event made me feel.
Mile 4 is when I started to realize, "What am I doing?" I am not athletic in the least.
If NO pain, NO gain stands to reason, than I gained a friggin' treasure box of something from this deal. JESSSH! I'm rich!

The Aftermath

Adding this all up the next day, (Get it, afterMATHÂ…adding it all up. *woka,woka*) I totally realize a few things.
1) Not everything is social. (Get a life, Brandon and a reality check.)
2) People are not as bad as the world makes them out to be. There is so much good and so much positive that just takes the right thing to bring out.
3) Real friends are few and far between, but they are out there. Racing life right with you.
4) 26.2 miles is a long way and your feet are important to many, many essential things.
6) Next year, I will be first person to pay for someone else to run and sponsor them AND to go stand on a street corner supportport every person that runs by me. (Now, I'm crying again at work typing this. This is insane!)

Jake from the office made this posting on one of the webmaster boards. Some people in the office added to it.
Man, that means alot.
He said that I have the medal to prove it, but I think he meant limp to prove it.

For more photos from the event go to: http://www.partywithbrandon.com/photopages/losangelesmarathon.htm.


This blog entry is dedicated to Angel for proving to me so much yesterday and not being able to take it away. Thank you.