twenty-something

Here's a dumb little MySpace forward thingee that I actually found interesting, especially as I prepare to turn 27 later this week...

[Inspired by Ryan]

Your Real Name: Patrick

Your Gangsta Name (1st 4 letters plus izzle): Patrizzle

Your Detective Name (fave color + fave animal): Blue Monkey

Your Soap Opera Name (middle name + childhood street): William Woodstock

Your Star Wars Name (last 3 letters of your last name + first 2 letters of your first name + first 3 letters of Mom's maiden name): Ondpathar

Your Superhero Name (2nd fave color + fave drink): Red Red Death

Your Witness Protection Name (Grandma/Grandpa's first name + Jones): John Jones

Your Goth Name (Black + name of one of your pets): Black Molly

Your American Idol Name (fav car and sea food): Jetta Calamari

Your Movie Star Name (sibling's middle name + mother's maiden name): Clark Harvey

Your Alter Ego (name of one your childhood pets + popular brand of clothes when you were young): Schmedley Levi

Your Lawyer Name (fav actor's last name + fav hard liquor): Owen Absolut

Your Hip Hop Name (fav candy + fruit): Jelly Belly Pear

Well, color me flattered.

Twenty-Something has been nominated for "Best Design of a Blog" in QueerClick's Gay Bloggie Awards. Just when I think I'm out of the gay blogosphere, I get pulled back in with a nice nod like this. Thanks, QueerClick!

If you feel so inclined, you can vote for 20sum here... because we all know I could use some more porn.

This is my 800th published post here at "Twenty-Something."

That's a whole lot of words.

217,657 recorded visitors have stopped by this blog since January of 2005. We've had 1,423 published comments. Though posts and comments and visits have slowed, 20sum is still here, and I can't imagine it going anywhere in the next four years before I'm a thirty-something. Maybe this isn't a milestone... but it's something.

I began blogging at the start of 2004. In the time since, there have been many words and many milestones. I had three birthdays. Owned five iPods. Lived in Vermont, Manhattan, and Boston. Ended a three-and-a-half year relationship. Became a Mac person. Wrote most of a memoir about growing up. Fallen apart and put myself together a few times, too. So much has happened and changed in the past three years and "Twenty-Something" has been one of the few constants.

The only way I can think to "celebrate" this 800th post is to go back and rerun my very first. I was three years younger, five months into my life in Burlington post-graduation. I still had a PC and I had my first iPod, pre-click wheel, back when I was the only person on campus with those now-infamous white earbuds. I had just brought Gavin DeGraw to UVM and I was riding high. And I was still with "Duncan." It was our first anniversary. It was before things got bad.

I was happy... back then, which seems a long time ago. I was unhappy for a long stretch. And now?

I'm still a twenty-something. I'm still figuring it out. But I may just be happy for the first time in a while. I think my twenty-three-year-old self said it best: "Someday, I'll have it all -- whatever that means. There's plenty of time for the future, for the plans and the conversations, for the now or nevers. But right here, right now..."

For the first time in many posts, I feel like I did back in January of 2004.

There is no other place I want to be.

Thank you for reading. For returning. For being here.

Go to ask.com.

Ask "what is some freaky stuff that will make a man crazy or turn him out during sex"?

And you will be taken to this blog. In particular, to my story, MAKE THE MAN.

How sweet is that?

(People from Tennessee are scary.)

It's not often than someone writes such an articulate, thoughtful, and touching (not to mention long) comment on this blog. But the other day, I got a meaty surprise in the dusty comment desert.

So in case you missed it, here's some sage wisdom from the handsome and multi-talented (why did I rank "handsome" before "multi-talented"?) Mark from Absolut Barillius, commenting on this post:

It's like every gay boy dreams to move away from home and make it in the Big City. No, scratch that. It's not just gay boys -- it spans all people, I think, to some extent. But sometimes it just doesn't end up fitting, for whatever reason.

I know you don't need or want advice, I am the same in that respect; it just ends up making you feel a bit queasy (if it's the opposite of what your gut tells you) or a bit skeptical (if it's the same). But for what it's worth, I will give my two cents.

I think you're right about New York. I too feel it's a temporary destination. An absolutely fantastic temporary destination, but temporary nonetheless. Ultimately I see you someplace different -- there are so many other cities that aren't as overwhelmingly dense and fabled as New York.

I feel that New York is a place so many people have lived and called their own. It's almost as if, over the years, they've sucked the life out of it -- when I'm there I don't feel myself. Rather, I feel as if I'm trying to live up to someone else's song lyrics or prose or poetry or photographs. You can't even walk down the street without thinking about that. It's a great feeling, for a while, but ultimately you're left with this feeling of defeat. It's just so daunting to tackle the place -- not because of its physical size, but because of the collective power of the stuff that exists about it.

So I say go find another city that's a little less popular. Someplace with some more trees or a mountain or two close by. Maybe the west coast, maybe the south. But ultimately, one you are eventually able to call your very own, rather than having to live in the shadows of millions of others' definitions.

(And way to upstage me on my own damn blog. I keed, I keed.)

The image is from college. I still love it.

I'll play along and tag Nick, The Joes, and Simon.

Nick at Zionide kindly tagged me with a "Five Simple Pleasures" thingee a while back, and because my life hasn't been very simple over the past month, I haven't gotten around to my response until now. I, like Nick, found it a struggle to think of five simple things -- but here's what I came up with.

Five Simple Pleasures

• Organizing my iTunes music library. (It's very Zen-like.)
  
• A quiet, late-night snowfall on a weeknight in downtown Burlington.
  
• Changing into gym shorts or track pants after arriving home from work.
  
• A walk along the Burlington Waterfront, any time of year, with good company.
  
• A Friday night alone with take-out from Chicken Charlie's and a marathon of Degrassi. (It's been too long.)

Oh, and I don't tag.

Happy December 31st! And welcome to the new home of Twenty-Something.

I've had the domain name "20sum.com" for a while now, and I've been playing around with Movable Type for a couple months -- the end result being this new and improved version of ye ole blog.

The new digs still need some tweeking, so I'll be playing around and settling in for a bit. But in the meantime, have a look around and give me any feedback you may have. And don't forget to update any bookmarks or links you may have to the old blogspot/blogger site.

Happy New Year!

Twenty-Something (along with most of my blogroll and a lot of other cool folks) has been nominated for Best Gay Blog of 2006. What good company to share a pulldown menu with! Thanks for the nod, BGB.

Natalie over at And So It Is weighs in with an ode to the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. And, my oh my, how sweet it is!

Her post reminded me of my seasonal love affair with said overpriced coffee drink and inspired me to make a pitstop at the Church Street 'Bucks this morn. Ordering a venti non-fat version of the drink, shelling out $4.66 for it, and then enjoying most of it (well, at least what didn't spill onto the floor of my car) has thus far been the highlight of this windy, rainy blustery fall day.

While the tasty holiday Eggnog Latte may be my seasonal favorite, the Pumpkin Spice is a nice sub and a great way to warm up from a summer filled with venti iced non-fat White Chocolate Mochas.

I'm glad I can still enjoy the small, soulless pleasures in life...

This public service pamphlet is hilarious. [Via Chad Fox.]

I absolutely love the fact that the search phrase "Dean Koontz 4 testicles" now brings you to this site...

FYI -- The Ultimate Blogger is winding down. I just have to say that I made the right choice by withdrawing all those weeks ago... Best of luck to the Final Two!

Live from New York... it's a really lame line to start a post with.

I interrupt this NYC holiday to blog because of some breaking news. Earlier today, when checking my email, I got a message from someone named "Michael Black" with the subject line of "Apology." The name did not ring a single bell in my large head and so I was very confused when I started reading the note. I was nearly to the end of the short email -- reading through references to a post I made about this person back in January, apologizing for their "unintention[ly]" rude behavior -- before the bells started ringing very, very loudly.

This was an email from Michael Ian Black, star of Stella, Ed, VH1's I Love The... series, Wet Hot American Summer, and various "Sierra Mist" commercials.

He was referring to a post I made after seeing Stella perform in Vermont. A post in which I called the man a "bitch."

Obviously he was never meant to read it. (But kudos to 20sum for becoming so big that celebrities read it -- at least when Googling themselves.)

Anyway, Mr. Black goes on to state:

I do not remember the incident, but please know that I am never intentionally rude to anybody, and if I came across that way, I am very sorry. It's entirely possible I was just tired or upset about something with the show. Regardless, I try to be polite to people, and if I offended you it was unintentional.

I have to say that I'm quite happy to recieve such a note, even if I hadn't thought about said interaction in many months. I always took the whole thing with a grain of salt and the post was meant as such. But the apology is cool, and any bitter taste that may have been left in my mouth from my interaction has been washed out, perhaps by some tasty Sierra Mist.

For the record: Michael Ian Black is not a bitch. So I, in turn, apologize to you, Mr. Black, for calling you one on the internet.

He's always been cool in my book, even in the months between January and May. He's fucking funny and talented -- and stars in my favorite gay sex scene ever. I have appreciated him since watching The State in high school -- and I will continue appreciating him with an added boost. I even liked him on Tom Goes To The Mayor -- and I don't really even like that show.

Thanks, Michael. We still can be friends. Forever.

(PS: Stella: The TV Series premiers on Comedy Central on my birthday -- June 28th -- and I can't think of a better present.)

Anybody else dealing with the Sober worm, and it's "hate spam," this fine Monday?

My poor work iMac is getting about ten emails a minute, each spewing "right-wing propaganda" in German, all morning, in each of the six email accounts I monitor for work. Grr...

Since the series really got going, I had contemplated "coming out" on my blog around the time I came out to the world in 90s-Something. It seemed hypocritical to be writing about my leaps from the closet and announcing to the world who I was while I was "hiding" behind a stupid moniker, a high school nickname that never really stuck. (Funny thing is, I never saw myself as hiding.)

And so, for that and other reasons, I have decided to make some changes here at 20sum. The first of which is to introduce myself.

My name is Patrick, the Blogger Formerly Known as Crash. I am a gay writer and I live in Vermont.

Nice to meet you.

As it turns out, I'm no Richard Hatch. Rather, I'm a Beth from the Real World Inferno Challenge.

I have quit the Ultimate Blogger competition. UB -- while a fun idea, which is being executed very well by the folks at Urban Honking -- just wasn't for me. The first few days were pretty joyless, and after secretly hoping I would get voted off in the first round, I figured I ought to take matters into my own hands. 90s-Something was a chore this week, and my intial version of it was sloppy. I can't have my primary writing project suffer for the sake of winning an iPod shuffle.

Thanks for supporting my brief stint into the world of reality blogging. (No thanks for the nasty comments and *ahem* threats. I never said my life was less "boring" than yours. I am, however, fragile and very shy.)

Good luck to the remaining 10 contestants.

More changes to come here at 20sum...

Smart, cute gay boys go to the prom @ JustPeteHere. Not a "queer prom." A real, high school one. And there's pictures. Rock on.

Our first challenge is to write about food. (If you watch the video on the site, it actually has good reasons why the topic is food.)

One of my writing professors in college told me that I should set all of my writing in restaurants. I mean, I think he was saying I was good at writing about people in restaurants. That was a compliment... or was he calling me fat? I don't know, but I do find it serendipitous that I am going out to dinner with no less than ten people this evening. I'm sure there will be something to write about from that.

Also: one of my strategies in this game is to hopefully give the UB lots of traffic, so much so the producers would be crazy to let the other players kick me off. So how about it, fellow bloggers? Link to me and Ultimate Blogger from your sites! I would die for a Crash-inspired shout-out to UB on, say, Pink or towleroad. (How's that for passive-aggressive link-whoring?)

Finalist no more! Starting tomorrow, I will be one of the 12 contestants on the first ever Ultimate Blogger "reality show," taking part in blogging challenges for the next six weeks.

It's on, bitches!

I will continue my usual blogging here at 20sum (90s-Something and all) while I'm surviving over at UB -- but those who like my style will now have two places to read me (until I'm voted off).

Am I lame for doing this? One reader writes in, concerned I'm selling out for too little (should I have held out for $5K, not $500?). My secret admirer Cathy over at 802 Online calls me trendy. What do you think?

In any case, tune into The Ultimate Blogger starting tomorrow to see where this goes.

I am a finalist to compete in The Ultimate Blogger contest at Urban Honking. Out of 300+ applicants, I am one of the final 30.

What does that mean?

The Ultimate Blogger is a 6-week competition between 12 people to be the best blogger in order to win a $500 dollar prize package. Each week consists of two challenges and two eliminations. The person or team that wins the challenge is safe, forcing the other players to vote someone out of the game. The last blogger remaining will be crowned The Ultimate Blogger and win the prize package.

Do I have what it takes to make it into the Final 12? Will I be the token gay? Can I channel Richard Hatch and kick some blog-ass? We'll all find out soon as I believe the competition starts early next week. Wish me luck.

Today in gay blogger news:

Nick at Zionide posts about his winning of a gay spelling bee (yes, those things apparently exist beyond Will & Grace), a concept that is both somewhat offensive and quite hilarious.

Brian at Faggot-Ass Faggot has censored himself, in my opinion, needlessly. I didn't think his earlier post (I caught it because I have no life) and found no fault in it. I personally loved the part about Horatio Sans.

If you're not reading Zionide or FAF, you should be.

I've been reeled into a "meme" (PS - I don't know what "meme" really means) by that Sheik-ilicious Mormon, Nick, over at Zionide. So here's what I have to post in order to find out nasty things about him:

Ask me 4 questions.
Any 4, no matter how personal, private or random. I have to answer them honestly. I have to answer them all. In turn, you post this message in your own blog or journal and you have to answer the questions that are asked of you.

Sometime while I was sleeping this past weekend, Twenty-Something passed the 20,000th visitor mark (since I began using statcounter last month anyway). I'm not sure if this is particularly impressive or not, but everybody else seems to be making their own similar milestones - so I figured, why not me?

This site has become drastically more popular over the past few days, due to new links from great sites like JustUsBoys and aguysite. And, of course, I couldn't have gotten here without the continued support of fine folks like Richard and Corey, who send a steady stream of visitors from their own amazing blogs.

I would also like to thank all the cool people out there that take the time to comment and, even, email. (I have to say that I'm way behind with responding, so if you have not heard back from me yet, please don't take it personally. God, I am pretending to be a celebrity now, aren't I?)

I will refrain from any Sally Field references. Please do the same.

If you like this site, please keep emailing, commenting, and linking because, at twenty-four, I really do use them as -- as Joe.My.God. so accurately called it -- "a shamelessly transparent vehicle for continuous validation." I like feeling "popular."

But if you really like Twenty-Something -- or maybe just Make the Man or 90s-Something -- maybe you'd consider a donation? As you can see, I've added one of those shameless buttons to my sidebar for the time being. I figure if a guy who can afford a brand-new PSP can make a little cash from this system, why can't a poor, poor twenty-something in Vermont? (Sorry, Oliver - I'm just trying to start a feud and get some linky love!) I want to upgrade the site soon and, also -- stylish size 13 shoes and my iTunes habit ain't cheap!

Thanks for 20,000 hits -- and for making my blogging experience so enjoyable.

Now give me money. :)

I've gotten this from a couple people, and I'm bored on my day off, so why not answer and post?

2005 Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends

1. What time did you get up this morning? 9AM

2. Diamonds or pearls? Prince

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Spanglish or Closer, not sure which -- apparently I haven't been to the movies in a while

4. What is your favorite TV show? Current? Lost and Dead Like Me. All-Time? Buffy.

5. What did you have for breakfast? I had Quizno's for lunch

6. What is your middle name? William

7. Favorite cuisine? Italian, Asian

8. What foods do you dislike?

9. What is your favorite chip flavor? Sea salt kettle chips

10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? (tie) Jack Johnson's "In Between Dreams" and "Funeral" by Arcade Fire

11. What kind of car do you drive? No car currently

12. Favorite sandwich? Turkey with mayo, pickles, salt and pepper

13. What characteristics do you despise most? I love and hate all people equally and bi-polar-ly

14. Favorite item of clothing? I love my cord jacket -- and I hate it, too

15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Australia

16. What color is your bathroom? White walls -- green towels and stuff -- orange shower curtain

17. Favorite brand of clothing? The Gap

18. Where would you retire to? Vermont

19. What was your most memorable birthday? 3rd -- Wonder Woman cake and all

21. Favorite sport to watch? Basketball

22. Who do you least expect to send this back to you? What's the point?

23. Person you expect to send it back first? Ditto

24. What fabric detergent do you use? Method

25. When is your birthday? June 28, 1980

26. When is your Anniversary? End of January-ish

27. Are you a morning person or a night person? Night

28. What is your shoe size? 13 -- yeah, baby!

29. Pets: None

30. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with us? Nope

31. What did you want to be when you were little? Clark Kent

32. What are you today? A mild-mannered programmer for a major metropolitan university

33. What is your favorite candy? Twix

34. What is your favorite flower? Dandelions

Thanks to all the new people clicking through -- hope you aren't too disappointed with the ab-free content 'round these parts.

And thanks to fellow Sheik-lover Nick over at Zionide for the blogger meme love. I would totally be in a relationship with you, too.

Color me flattered.

Really. There's some paint over in the corner. It will be fun.

*ahem* Sorry.

Seriously, though, I just found out that my fellow Duncan Sheik-lover, Nick over at Zionide, thinks highly of me.

I'm mentioned thrice in his latest post, his take on a blogger meme.

Says Nick:

The most similar to you?
I really have no idea. Blind gut instinct tells me Sean or Crash, though.

Hey! I read Sean's blog, too! We are similiar.

With which blogger would you most like to have a relationship?
Well, the obvious answer aside, I like cute, smart, and funny. So I have to say Sam or Crash.

Who would you most like to emulate?
Crash. Everytime I read Twenty-Something it makes me want to be more disciplined in my writing.

I'm ripping this off from Secret Simon, who in turn stole the idea from someone else. What's your favorite?

Googlism for: crash

crash is evidence of speculator's influence
crash is much greater when driving on rural roads
crash is imminent
crash is a scam
crash is affecting holiday travel plans
crash is a compelling story for all time
crash is still not known
crash is stylin
crash is totaled
crash is coming
crash is nature's way of urging data backups
crash is good at writing html
crash is lost to 'clerical error'
crash is airline's deadliest since '95
crash is rather contradictory as the ukrainian site mignews
crash is moving
crash is a human and psychological tragedy
crash is not an accident changing the way we think about events
crash is here to stay
crash is suspect in rape case
crash is identified
crash is a registered charity financed only by donations
crash is an extremely well made but utterly preposterous show
crash is one for believe it or not
crash is a spoken word event held every other month in jamaica plain
crash is nigh
crash is shown once in real
crash is by far the most uncompromising and confrontational film of the year
crash is a provocative and brilliantly disturbing project
crash is stable by associated press
crash is a tired vehicle
crash is not an accident
crash is by no means the shocking film you would expect it to be
crash is here and he's taking it to nintendo and mario in a big way
crash is the portrayal of a future that is bizarre enough to be plausible
crash is our pet chinchilla
crash is no exception
crash is an album that will please fans
crash is and so huggable and loveable
crash is currently a late night staple of the independent film channel
crash is a film about the lives of a group of people who become sexually aroused
crash is the breaking down of order
crash is way too proud of itself
crash is reported individually
crash is poised to break out in mass

Searches for "Gavin DeGraw shirtless" and "What happened to Seal's face?" already bring you to this site.

So here you go:

Question: Are those scars on your face from rituals?
Seal: They are from a condition I had called Lupus.

- From an AOL live chat transcript from 1998.

My posting momentum has slowed this week. My PowerBook is in the shop. I'll catch up soon.