Monday, July 11, 2005

Books

Jef tagged me with this book meme:

1. How many books do you own?

I'd estimate on about two to three hundred, the majority of which are at my Mum's house in Wiltshire, where I stored them before I moved to NYC. That figure counts for every book I've ever owned. While I may have loaned books out, I've never thrown any away.

2. Last book read?
The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. There are only three books that I have read that have actually made me cry (shut up, Drew) and this is one of them (one of the other two is listed below). It's a story about a man called Henry who suffers from a rare disorder where his genetic clock occasionally resets itself, flinging him from the present, back and forth through time. On his journeys he encounters Clare, his wife in the present, at various points in her life. On the surface the premise might seem rather fantastical, but the author makes it entirely believable. This is an old fashioned romance that had me hooked from the first page and literally sobbing by the end.

3. Last book purchased?
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. I don't really know what it is about. I know it's based on a true story and that one of my friends read it and greatly enjoyed it. I'm also very intrigued by a book called A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. All I'll say is that it had better be just that, or I'll be consulting the Trading Standards website.

4. Name five books that mean a lot to you.
Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland. There are so many reasons why I love this book (it was one of the three that have made me cry). The first is that Douglas Coupland is my favourite author in the whole world and I've read all his books. He could write an obituary and I would love it. The second is that it contains one of the most moving scenes I've ever read in a book. I can't tell you any more about that point, because it would ruin a surprise. The third is that it includes some really clever references to huge cultural landmarks from the late 90s - the kind that give you goosebumps. I frikkin love this book! Go out and buy it now!

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I'm probably hearing a bunch of you distantly yelling "Why?! Why?!" at me right now. Well, on the surface it's a pretty formulaic tale of conspiracy and the like, written in an absorbing, non-boundary pushing manner. I don't care for all that backlash nonsense - it's a bloody good read. And to question whether or not the "fact" is, indeed, fact is to thoroughly miss the point. For me the "fact" is that the Christian church is built on a fundamental lie. This realisation encouraged me to ask myself some really important and fairly profound questions about my faith and as a result I do not believe that the God I was taught about in school really exists. So while I wouldn't say I'm now an atheist, I'm definitely agnostic. That might seem rubbish - that Dan Brown made me question God. But then we can find truths in the most unlikely of places.

Alexander and the Magic Mouse by Martha Sanders. This is my favourite book from when I was a kid. An old lady lives on a hill with various animals that she has collected on her travels around the world: a yak from Tibet, a Brindle London Squatting cat, an alligator called Alexander and a magical mouse. The mouse has a premonition that the local town will be washed away by a terrible storm so the old lady sends Alexander to the town to deliver a letter to the mayor so that he can warn everyone of the impending danger. After his efforts Alexander catches flu and is deeply depressed that everyone in the town was scared of him. In the end the magical mouse gives him a tiny pink cake and overnight he gets better. Shortly after they learn that his mission was successful and the whole town comes up the hill to thank Alexander.

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster. I initially read it because I loved the movie - Rupert Graves, Julian Sands and, er, Simon Callow, naked and wrestling in a bathing pond. Sadly the book was less homoerotic than the movie, but I still enjoyed it very much. In fact it encouraged me to read all of Forster's other books, including a Passage to India, which I was supposed to have read for A Level English, but didn't. Still, better late than never.

Untitled by this man. I haven't read it yet because it's yet to be published, but as long as I get expensive Christmas and birthday presents as a result of his handsome royalties, it will forever be a book that will mean a lot to me.

5. Tag five more people.
I have had bad experiences of tagging people, so I'm going to leave it up to those who have not done this to decide if they want to do it.

Friday, July 08, 2005

Christopher hurts himself (again)

When something truly awful happens there is this inclination to just sit in front of the TV and absorb, absorb, absorb until you're as much of an expert on the goings-on as the anchorperson you've recently become best friends with. This was very much the case in my office yesterday, as the TV was on all day and no one was really doing anything apart from congregating around it.

At lunchtime I decided not to eat my low-carb, home-prepared bean and tuna salad at my desk and instead ventured down into Wimbledon town centre to meet Lindsay for lunch.

Because Lindsay didn't have much time to spare we decided to grab a quick bite and a drink at Coffee Republic, next to Wimbledon tube station. As Lindsay ordered our beverages at the front of the shop, I located an area at the back for us to sit down. As I reclined into my leather armchair, the back of my head connected heavily with the extremely sharp edge of the counter behind me. You know when you hit your head so hard that it doesn't actually hurt? That's how hard I hit my head.

As I pretended that I was actually completely fine to the cute guy sat adjacent to me I reached my hand behind my head to check out the damage and was quite shocked to discover that I was actually bleeding quite profusely. Without trying to draw too much attention to myself I got up and went to the counter to tell Lindsay what had happened and to grab some napkins from one of the baristas.

The manager of the shop, who was at this point standing behind the till, saw my bloodied hand and swiftly went into lifesaver overdrive. "Oh my God! Did you just come out of the station?!" he asked, hurriedly, grabbing a dishcloth. "Do you need some ice? Don't worry, it's ok!"

Realising that the manager had thought that I was walking wounded from the events that occurred earlier in the day, I felt a brand new rush of blood sweep through me , this time depositing itself firmly onto my cheeks. "Erm, no. I just hit my head on your counter."

Of course, Lindsay thought that it was extremely amusing that I had to include myself, however unintentionally, in amongst the overall melee.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

I guess it was only a matter of time.

I've had a bunch of calls today from concerned friends and family checking up on me. "Are you ok?" they ask. "Yes." I tell them. "Good," they reply. The conversations have been brief and on the whole there seems to have been less 'talking' and more 'listening'.

Yesterday I wrote that I am proud of my country and proud to be British. Today I feel even more proud, if that's possible. I know that us Brits often get ribbed for our sometimes rather rigid sobriety, but I have to say that I think that it is on days like today that our true spirit really shines through.

Earlier on, for some reason, I remembered that scene in Elizabeth, where Cate Blanchett's infamous monarch confronts Richard Attenborough's Lord William. On the surface this quote is not entirely relevant to today's events, but for me it speaks volumes about my nation's character and spirit.

"I am my father's daughter. I am not afraid of anything."

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

A good / bad date

Last night I went on a date with Paul.

I met Paul very briefly on Friday night while out drinking with Drew. It was a case of eyes meeting across a crowded pavement. At first he seemed to be leaving with some friends, but as he walked away he carried on glancing back at me. I smiled. He dumped his friends. I told him that I wasn't in a position to dump my one friend. He gave me his digits. I texted him. Last night we went on a date.

As I walked down Clapham High Street towards Kazbah (if it ain't broke, etc) I spotted Paul walking towards me. Even though I had only spoken to him briefly I recognised him instantly, but the thing I was most struck by was not his handsome good looks (which he has) but by how he was walking like a slightly deranged, homeless man who has just downed a quart of vodka.

Anyway - he didn't recognise me and as this wasn't where we were supposed to meet - on the street - I decided to play dumb and carry on to Kazbah, order a drink, grab a free gay rag, decide which dance tents at Big Gay Out I would grace with my presence and try to forget that disconcerting walk.

Paul arrived a few minutes later, slightly out of breath, apologising for being late. Knowing very well that I had just walked past him on the street I said, "Did I just walk past you on the street?" on the offchance that he had also seen me and wondered why I hadn't said, "Hello!" He hadn't, but apologised for not having seen me.

The next two hours went without hitch and as time wore on we started to inch closer and closer and we began to do all the little physical things one does when one finds oneself more and more attracted to the person sat opposite - resting your feet on the footsteps of their stool, the occasional brush against a leg, grabbing their shoulder during the middle of a really funny story. "Yes," I'm thinking, "I actually quite like you." Oh, and we agree on stuff, but not in that "Oh, yes, I also like James Blunt and I'm just saying this because I think it's what you want to hear way." More of the excited, "So do I!!!"

Eventually I looked at my watch and saw that it was 11.15pm. I explained that I was up a little bit past my bedtime and while I was having a great time, I really should be going home. It turned out that he lived not too far from me, so I agreed to walk some of the way home with him. We finished off our drinks and left.

And then, suddenly, all of the warm, fuzzy, "I think I quite like this guy" feelings instantly dissipated as he started doing that walk again. What the fuck was that shit? Again, slightly deranged lunatic. Definitely flat footed and upper body leaning forward. All I could think was "patient" and the overall illusion was ruined. As quick as it had arrived, it vanished. No more dates for me and Paul.

Now you might think that after having spent two hours on what was essentially a really good date, I would be really disappointed. But if you did, you'd be wrong.

All I could feel was massive relief that I would not be spending my ever-after with a guy who made me cringe with embarrassment every time he put foot to floor. It is for important reasons like these that I am not willing to compromise. It makes the idea of an eternal singledom entirely bearable.

I am recovering from a slightly hectic weekend.

(Incidentally - before I continue if you spot any random puntuation marks or copyright symbols in my text, please ignore them. I write my posts in Word, before copying and pasting them into Blogger. For some reason Blogger has stopped recognising punctuation transferred across and gets confused. Very annoying, but it raises less suspicion when blogging at work if I spend two hours writing a post in a Word document, as opposed to the Blogger compose window. The bloggers amongst you will understand what I mean.)

I spent Saturday with my Dad and my stepmom, doing the tourist "thang" around central London. Despite Live8 taking place just under half a mile away in Hyde Park, the city was eerily quiet - more so than during a quiet week day, which was actually brilliant for dragging parents around.

We had a nice lunch at a small cafe in Piccadilly and then we walked down South Bank, next to the Thames, to the Tate Modern to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition. Dad messed it up and went through the exhibition the wrong-way-round. I met him half way through and he actually said to me, "Her painting style seems to get worse as she got older."

Anyway - I learned a couple of things. I learned that Frida Kahlo had an affair with Leon Trotsky while he was staying as a guest at the home of her and her husband. How fabulous. I wonder if he was hot?

The other thing I learned, or rather I realised, is that regardless of whether you live a life of pain, whether you enjoy your life (as, for one reason or another, Frida generally didn't seem to) you can live a life which has a profoundly positive effect on other people – making you realise that you’re never alone in how you feel and / or you can understand and empathise with someone elses pain without the need for words. I'd always thought that it was kind of narcissistic of Kahlo to feature herself so prominently in her paintings, but what I now understand is that in her case she felt that it it was essential in order to create an emotional connection with the theme she was conveying.

Oh – another thing my Dad said to me (with absolute seriousness), "She was very good at drawing fruit and vegetables, wasn't she?"

Saturday night / Sunday morning were spent gaying it with my friends at clubs in Vauxhall. Action, which occurs once every fortnight, was followed by Beyond, a weekly after-hours club night, just around the corner at the Coliseum. As usual I had a great time with my friends. There was not much drinking, a little bit of boy-kissing at Action, a couple of compliments from guys significantly bigger than me on what a good body I have (bring this one on as much as you like) and a tired trudging through my front door at midday on Sunday.

I remembered this morning that my friend Kelly (a girl) demanded that I take her through the sex maze at Action. While I was, at first, hesitant about performing such an action at Action, I eventually relented, on the proviso that the only thing she grabbed was my hand. Later on in the evening she joked that she thought she might be pregnant. I am undecided whether to tell her that it might actually be wise to buy a pregnancy test.

Friday, July 01, 2005

Score!

Last night, while I was working out at the gym, my friend Richard walked up to me. Looking vaguely concerned, he whispered, "Have you been taking steroids?"

While it is true that, of late, I have been attending the gym a lot more and working out harder than I ever have before, it's not true that I have been taking steroids.

It is, however, an appropriate indication of the type of world that I live in that I took Richard's question as the best compliment ever.

Thursday, June 30, 2005

Tom talks rubbish

As many of you know, I have been subject to extensive psychiatric treatment for the majority of both my teenage and adult life. Last year, for reasons I won't go into again, I decided to take myself off my prescrition medication. If you are a regular visitor here, you will know that I feel that the change in my overall mood and my ability to deal with everyday problems has been quite remarkable. Infact I believe that the years spent taking those drugs was, in actual fact, detrimental to my overall mental health and really responsible for much of my anti-social behaviour.

However, while I feel very strongly that anti-depressive medication is definitely not for me, I do believe that psychiatry and the appropriate medication definitely has it's place in the world. Probably more so today than at any other point in history. Modern life is, emotionally, very taxing, so sometimes we need some help to get through the dark, dark times that almost all of us will experience at various points as we plod on through our worlds.

I am really beginning to dislike Tom Cruise. Historically I have had very little interest in him. As far as I'm concerned, he's kind of bland. He definitely has some kind of screen presense, and there is no doubt that he is very good looking. As to whether or not he's gay, I didn't used to think so, but recently his declarations of love for Katie Holmes, well ... perhaps the "lady" doth protest too much?

In an interview with NBC-TV's Matt Lauer, Tom denounced psychiatry as a "pseudo-science" after being asked about his stance against anti-depressant drugs. A couple of weeks ago he criticised Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressants after the birth of her daughter in order to counteract what was apparently a severe post-natal depression.

A fellow blogger wrote about this interview this week and asked why Lauer, upon hearing Tom's tirade against the psychiatric extablishment, had not pushed him to explain why psychiatric patients should follow the advice of an actor and not that of their qualified doctors.

While, in my mind and a in a few others, there is a question mark over the mental sanity of anyone who jumps up and down on a sofa, on international TV, declaring his love for someone he only met a couple of months prior, Tom's comments don't appear to be a prompted by a personal psychiatric condition. We all know that he is a dedicated follower of the Church of Scientology, which, as far back as the 1960s has been rabidly against the institution of psychiatry. This belief is key to the overall mission of the church's founder, Ron Hubbard.

While there is no denying that some patients have occasionally benefitted from the church exposing cases of extremely poor psychiatric care, this doesn't mean that the overall Scientologist argument actually stands up upon closer inspection. Scientologists are most often irrationally opposed to scientifically supported treatment in the forms of both therapy and medication, which have been life-saving for millions of people all over the world.

The inherent problem with psychiatry, in all it's many forms and treatments is that it is not an exact science. We all know that and I think that most of the scientific community would agree. It's well documented that the human brain is the most unchartered and indeed the most mysterious part of the human body. Because of my own negative experiences at the hands of the psychiatric community in both the UK and the States, I, for one, welcome intelligent debate on the subject. But what really annoys me most about Tom's comments was his inability to provide alternative treatments for people suffering with mental illnesses: what treatments does the Church of Scientology suggest using? Does it run hospitals for people suffering from clinical depression, bipolar disorder, personality disorder, etc? Will it take legal responsibility for patients care? Do they have indepent proof that it's methods are effective?

However unlikely, maybe Tom has done his homework and he does know what he's talking about. But someone with a high-profile voice is being entirely irresponsible and not doing anyone any favours when they publicly denounce treatment that is widely held to be the best that we have available. If Tom can't outline what treatments he would recommend and show us evidence that they would work, then he really should stick to what he's best at - publicising his new movie.

Christopher considers charity

Two of my friends owe me approximately £20 each. This morning, as I drank my cup of tea, a wave of benevolence swept over me and I considered taking heed of the advice Bob Geldof is proffering to the various leaders who are soon to attend the G8 summit in Gleneagles.

I thought to myself, perhaps I should cancel my friends' debt?

Then I thought that maybe I should not only cancel their debt, but also offer them monetary aid. In line with the agreement signed by world leaders at the 2002 Monterrey Financing for Development Conference I should offer them aid packages constituting 0.7% of my annual salary - amounting to £158 each.

And, quite frankly, this isn't going to happen.

So then I realised that it would be much more fortuitous for me to listen to the World's banks. Therefore, as of today, I will be heaping an inordinate amount of interest onto my friends' debts. I feel that it's important to make them understand that borrowing is a serious matter and one not to be taken lightly.

As Thatcher once said, "If you can't afford it today, then leave it out." Or something like that. And what a wise woman she was.

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Christopher's Fashion Advice 101 - sunglasses

(via an email exchange with my friend, Katie)

Katie: Do you know where I can get pink sunnies??!!!!

Christopher: Why the hell would I know, bitch?!

Katie: I'm shocked to the core you BITCH!!!! I think of you as a style guru! Given that colored sunnies are so this season, thought you may know! God some people!!!

Christopher: Oh! I thought you were implying that I would know because pink is the international colour for dudes who like taking it up the wrongun. But in that case (me being a style guru), Chanel has some really great, candy-pink, plastic sun's with tortoise-effect temples (arms to you.) But if you're short of cash I could russle a pair with an old pair of 3D cardboard glasses, some cling-wrap and a pink Crayola?

Monday, June 27, 2005

The most depressing email ever

As my last post stated, I am currently working in Wimbledon, which is an unusual location for a PR company to operate from, most of them preferring to be relatively positioned around central London, as that's where most of the media is situated.

I am doing the PR for financial services. Given the fact that my professional background is steeped richly in fashion and grooming PR, I'll leave it up to you to decide how bored you think I am right now.

I am on the books of about five recruitment agencies. I have little experience of any other kind of recruitment agency, but I can reliably inform you that PR recruitment agencies are not a whole lot of cop when it comes to, er, PR recruitment. I guess if I was an actor I would have only one agent. But in my line of work it seems to be wiser to throw the net out wide. I should point out that I have never acquired a job through an agency, always managing to snag one myself.

One of the companies is unbelievably rubbish and even though I have been on their books for about eight months they have yet to send me on an interview or even tell me that a position is available ... anywhere.

However, on Friday I received an email from my agent at this company. Given that the title read "Hello!" and that I had not spoken to her in about four months, I could only assume that she had found me some to-die-for position in the most global PR agency in the world, directing the international PR for Gucci, working closely with Tom Ford.

It was an invitation. To her birthday party.

The idea that my poor agent was so short of friends that had been forced to invite me, someone she had only met once for about five minutes and spoken to only three or four times briefly on the phone, to her birthday party was so depressing that I almost wanted to attend.

But then I read that it's happening at O'Neill's pub in Putney. I don't think so.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

New balls

I just had an "ick" moment. Kind of.

I am working a few hundred metres away from the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Association which, as you may or may not know, is currently holding its annual grand slam tournament.

So me and my friend Lindsay, who also works in the locale, were sat outside the Dog and Fox pub, eating panini, nursing pints of cold cider, soaking up the summer sun and gossiping about stuff n' shit. All of a sudden I got distracted by the sight of six immaculately groomed, Wimbledon ball boys, casually sauntering past us, dressed in head-to-toe white: white cotton pants, white tennis shoes and white cricket sweaters.

The overall effect was quite mesmerising and I began to imagine myself in a gay tennis-porn, locker-room showdown with these white-clad hotties. Picture it - "Excuse me, but I think you just dropped your balls ... " etc, etc.

Lindsay stopped talking, looked at me and then followed my line of vision and clocked what I was checking out.

"Chris! That's disgusting," she exclaimed. "They’re about 16 years old!"

I tried to reason with her that they looked at least 18 and even if they were 16, they were still "legal", but she wasn't having it.

So, for the first time in my life, I was made to feel like a dirty old man.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Girls are dumb

Well, ok ladies, I know you're not really dumb, but you have to admit that you are very slightly "special" (pejorative) when it comes to technology, aren't you? At least, that has been my experience, especially of late.

Three examples:

1.
Yesterday morning I noticed that one of my colleagues who sits across from me, well call her Pam, was slowly getting more and more frustrated with something that her computer wouldn't seem to want to do.

After a few minutes of watching Pam inching closer and closer to throwing her rather sexy, slimline Sony Vaio laptop out of the window in an explosion of super-colossal rage I eventually leaned forward and, so as not to feel the full extent of her wrath, whispered, "What's wrong?"

"It's my laptop," she explained, the vein in her temple waving at me. "I'm trying to open someone's CV and my computer won't let me!"

I leaned forward a bit more and pulled her laptop round towards me. "Show me what you're doing," I told her. So she moved the mouse cursor up to the "File" dropdown and clicked on "Open", by which point I had already ascertained what the problem was.

"Pam," I say, trying my best not to be patronising, because Pam is technically more senior than me. "You're trying to open a Word document in Outlook."

2.
Just over a month ago I persuaded my Mum to buy a new Mac Mini to replace the ancient iMac I gave her about three years ago.

Unfortunately I wasn't there when she tried to set the thing up, which meant that I got called with a zillion and one stupid questions like, "The booklet tells me to put the CD into the hard drive. What's the hard drive?"

Now don't give me that spiel about it being harder for people of my mother's age to learn even the rudimentary aspects of modern technology. Besides, she's only 53. It's been proven that there is no physiological reason (aside from actual ailments like Alzheimer's or senile dementia) why old people should suddenly become stupid. It's not that they can't work it out themselves; in my opinion it's because they're lazy. They have grown up children or grandchildren to rely on to install their new microwave. I'm not afraid to call my Grandma an asshole if she can't figure out how to plug in her brand new toaster. Yeah! I'll kick her in the shins too, the bitch.

Regardless, I let my mum off the first few dumb questions. But I did lose my temper with her when she called me during a client meeting. Normally I won't answer my mobile during a meeting, but when I saw my mum's number flash up (especially given the fact that my Granddad recently died) I figured that it must be something important. So I quickly excused myself and slipped outside to take the call.

"Mum, I'm in a meeting. What's wrong?"

"It's the computer."

"Mum! I'm in a meeting! Can't this wait until after I finish work?"

"Well just quickly then. The new flat screen I just bought. It won't turn on. I've tried everything but it won't work. Do you know what it could be?"

Upon further investigation, my mother and I established that the monitor was not plugged in to the power. No joke. Her logic was that she thought the "hard drive" (see, she learned one thing!) provided the power for the monitor, but I explained to her that would be like assuming that her DVD player provides the power for her TV.

3.
This morning my housemate informed me that she had not been able to listen to any music on her iPod for almost a week because someone had locked it and she couldn't work out how to un-lock it. Handing the offending item over to me she asked if I could fix it.

I flicked the "Hold" switch off and handed it back to her.

Being gay affords me a closeness to women that many straight men don't have. For that reason I believe that I have a good grasp of the mysterious machinations of the female mind. But I just don't get why the vast majority of you are so unbelievably rubbish with technology. I'm sorry if that sounds all superior and offensive, but seriously? What is it? Do you like us boys to patronise and rib you endlessly for being dumb? Are you secretly masochists in this respect? And surely it can't just be laziness. I mean, why would you walk around not being able to listen to music for a week, just because you're not prepared to spend ten seconds analysing all the surfaces of your MP3 player for signs of a switch which could be construed as being a lock?

I can guarantee that if a guy asks me to help him with something technical it will be something genuinely complicated. I have never known a guy to announce in the middle of the office, "I can't print!" It will be something like, "Can you help me configure this POP server?"

So what is it, ladies? C'mon! Give me something to work with here!

Monday, June 20, 2005

One. Of. These. Days.

I think I might have anger management issues. I am liable to do some really ill thought out things as a result of being on the receiving end of genuine stupidity, irrationality or poor service.

The other day I went to an appointment at the hospital to see a consultant about this. Upon observation the consultant told me that while there is still every chance that it will go away by itself, it might be worth operating on anyway.

"Rosie?" he called out to the nurse working at the station opposite our booth. "Can we fit Christopher in for an [insert name of unpronouncable surgical procedure here] this afternoon?"

The response was in the negative, so my consultant wrote me up an appointment request and sent me back to the main reception desk to get myself booked in for another day.

Imagine my consternation and frustration upon being told that the next available appointment would be on Tuesday, September 27. I told the receptionist, in no uncertain terms, that this date was totally unacceptable to me, not least because September 27 is my birthday and I'll be buggered if I'll spend the day having my eyelid splayed, scraped and sewn back up again. But more than that, five minutes previously my consultant had been under the impression that appointments in this place were so freely available that procedures could be carried out as quickly and easily as by calling out to the nurse in the station opposite.

This line of approach didn't really get me anywhere. The fact that the receptionist was a gay man with really bad highlights probably didn't help. No doubt my own gorgeous hair made him feel inferior.

Anyway ... I kinda lost it.

To cut a long story short I caused such a fuss over having to live with this hideous deformity barely noticeable lump for three and half more months that I managed to get the receptionist to agree to leave his post in order to discuss the situation with my consultant all the way back at the booth.

After a short, heated exchange I realised that the only way I was going to get these fuckers to concede to my demands was by threatening to go private - because clearly the possibility that I might unburden myself from an already overcrowded NHS waiting list would surely put the fear of God into them.

Cut to me walking out of the clinic with no appointment and very little dignity.

There was a time when losing your rag actually got you somewhere. Even if you made little or no sense, people would be so keen to get rid of you and your ranting that they would bow to almost any demand you made.

I can reliably inform you all that those days are gone. These days you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Dumbass chicken agreement

Yesterday I accepted an invitation from someone at work to attend a brainstorm to think of media ideas for what was cited as "a breakthrough in snacking!"

This morning I learned that the breakthrough was nothing to do with potato chips which make people thinner or chocolate chip cookies that increase emotional empathy. No. The breakthrough is pre-packed, pre-cooked chicken pieces.

Aside from the fact that the likes of Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Marks & Spencer, et al, have been selling similar products for two or three years it is not an easy task to concoct credible story hooks to encourage the tabloid press to write about chicken pieces (which, incidentally, taste like processed cocker spaniel chunks. And yes, before you ask, I do know what cocker spaniel tastes like) unless you’re prepared to pay for Abi Titmus to wear a bikini made out of them.

(Which is, actually, not such a bad idea.)

But get this - I actually had to sign a confidentiality agreement to prevent me from talking about this unbelievable revolution in cooked chicken outside of work! Apparently it has never crossed anyone’s mind that by making me sign a confidentiality agreement for a new processed meat it might actually encourage me to talk to people about it.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Existential question

Why is it that even though orange cordial tastes nothing like real oranges, we still know what it is supposed to be? The same goes for almost every other* flavour of cordial: blackcurrant, lemon, apple, strawberry and especially fruits of the forest, which is actually how Radox Essence of Peach** shower gel might taste if you licked it off a Formica work surface.

The thing with orange cordial - is it because it looks kind of orange in colour and the bottle tells us that it is orange in flavour that our senses are convinced? Is it all another example of corporate conditioning and deception?

Either way, I am assuming that I could, hypothetically, concoct a brownish coloured, watery blend of charcoal and twigs and call it “Chair Leg Squash”.

It’s pretty profound, really.

* With the exception of Passion Fruit. Anything that has been artificially flavoured to taste like Passion Fruit, does indeed taste like Passion Fruit. Think about it! It’s true!

** Actually smells like Yardley April Violets eau de toilette***


*** Actually smells like old ladies****

**** Actually smells like Yardley April Violets eau de toilette*****


***** I think I’m in a K-hole

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Fashion stock is down

For the last two days Sam, the account executive who sits opposite me, and Rachel, one of my fellow account directors, have been ploughing through various style websites in order to find out what “the” fashion item will be for Autumn/Winter 2005/2006.

Never missing an opportunity to demonstrate my extensive sartorial knowledge I have been helpfully reeling off trends such as “Big! Big! Big!”, “Ethnic” and “Capes!”

Now I should point out that neither Sam, nor Rachel (especially Rachel) are the types of cosmopolitan women who realise that metropolitan gay men are, quite simply, the frikkin Oracle when it comes to sound fashion advice. Sam and Rachel both live in Croydon. Nuff said. Therefore my advice has been met with mistrust, poorly disguised as surprised graciousness.

This morning Sam presented her final list of “must-have” items to Rachel. Cue lots of cooing from Rachel - “Oh, yes! Lovely, oh lovely!” – while I sat there and gnashed my teeth.

Finally Rachel gets to the bottom of Sam’s list and screams in delight, “Absolutely yes! Ponchos! Yes! Everyone is wearing them!”

I very, nearly spontaneously combusted.

The very point of a must have fashion item for Autumn/Winter 2005/2006 is that no one in Summer 2005 is wearing the bloody thing (which they aren’t, actually.) Also, ponchos had their time, which, with those in the know, finished at the close of winter in 2004. Ponchos have evolved … INTO CAPES!!! I said that, remember??!!

And if that wasn’t enough I just logged onto vogue.com and saw that Anna Wintour, the frikkin arbiter of conservative, yet deeply fashionable taste, wore this monstrous Vera Wang “thing” to the CFDA Style Awards in New York:

anna wintour

Still, all is not lost. Linda Evangelista still looks as damn fine as ever. Just look at the way she brings her left foot in at that perfectly jaunty angle. Perfection!

linda evangelista

That was quite a gay post. I'm off now to chop some wood.

New vocation

At the weekend, because it was my friend Lucy's birthday, I went up to Birmingham to accompany her and my other friends to the dogs - a British expression for going to see greyhounds race around a mini-stadium, chasing an electric rabbit.

I discovered three important things about myself at the dogs:

1) I am not a born gambler I put down a total of £17.00 on the various races and I won a total of £0.80. So actually I didn't win anything. I lost £16.20.

2) My new favourite dogs are greyhounds. They are, apparently, very loving and contrary to popular opinion, don't need that much exercise. So my two bedroom, narrow, 1st floor apartment is the perfect living environment.

3) I am naturally gifted at sports photography. Look at the picture, below - see how I communicate the great speed of the greyhounds by not actually capturing them while in the frame. Cunning, huh?

CIMG1438

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

The verdict

Ages ago, one of my friends said to me, "What if Michael Jackson is telling the truth? What if he didn't do anything?" I considered it for a few moments and then brushed the idea away. After all, grown men simply do not share their beds with young, unrelated boys.

This evening I'm asking myself a different question.

Have we all become really cynical? If he really, truly is not guilty, which is what we should now believe, I guess, then I suppose I should feel a little guilty for judging him. Although I'm not sure that I do.

Another thing struck me this evening for the first time. Not guilty. It doesn't have quite the same ring as "innocent".

Friday, June 10, 2005

"You're a drunk and a bad mother!"

A little while ago I heard on the radio that a Hollywood studio is going to make an all-star feature movie of Dallas. Fortunately it won't follow on from where the series and the three abismal TV movies left off and will start afresh, using just the basic plot and original characters.

Dallas was the first TV show I religiously watched as a young-un. A few years ago it was repeated on BBC 1 on Saturday mornings and you could watch three episodes back to back. I think over the course of six months my housemate, Alison, and I watched every single episode. I remember feeling a pang of something kind of like brotherhood upon realising that Pam and Bobby's offspring, Christopher, my namesake, was infact, when compared to John Ross Jr. ("Swellen" and J.R.'s sprog), a little bit poofy, even if he was only about 8 at the time.

The other day I was checking out the IMDB message boards for the movie and I saw that someone had put together a "dream team" of actors who they thought would be perfect in each of the roles. This got me rather over-excited and for the past few days I have been paying very careful consideration as to who I would cast in each of the infamous roles. Bear in mind that I have tried not to be influenced by who played the character previously. Because that's what good casting is all about, dontcha know?

Dallas - The Movie
casting by Christopher [cue theme music]:

John Ross 'Jock' Ewing, Sr.
Paul Newman
paul

Eleanor Southworth Ewing
Gena Rowlands
gena

John Ross 'J.R.' Ewing, Jr.
Brad Pitt
brad

Bobby Ewing
Christian Bale
christian

Sue Ellen Shepard Ewing
Amber Valetta
amber

Pamela Barnes Ewing
Catherine Zeta Jones
catherine

Cliff Barnes
Matthew McConaughey
matthew

Digger Barnes
Richard Gere
richard

Ray Krebbs
Luke Wilson
luke

Lucy Ewing Cooper
Elisabeth Harnois
elisabeth

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

I am not having a good day

I have fallen out with my mum over something really stupid which is, at the same, time rather complicated and serious.

Some of my friends are annoying me, which is a really unfair thing of me to feel, because they’re all actually good people and they're not trying to intentionally bug me.

But more than all of that I have written “5. Biggs” in my work day book and I can’t, for the life of me, remember why.

I just know that someone, tomorrow or later on in the week, is going to say “Blah, blah, blah, Biggs,” and I’ll suddenly remember what it referred to and it’ll signal the beginnings of an almighty catastrophe.

You know when you were young and your parents said to you that the years spent being a kid are the best of your life and you thought, “Yeah, right!”?

Oh, the pathos!

I love living in London right now...

... but when I hear that one of my friends in NYC might be watching Madonna's new tour documentary at a private preview with Ingrid Casaras and that this morning he saw Leo and Giselle smooching outside his apartment, I can't help but feel a little pang of "homesick-ness".

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Throw Christopher from the train

A word of warning: never, ever get into an argument with me. I’m not necessarily saying that I’ll beat you, but either way it’s guaranteed that I will drive both of us a little bit crazy. I will, with no compunction, argue that black is white, especially when I feel that I am being dealt the short end of the stick. I will often lose all logic and sensibility to try and bring the situation round to my favour. Sometimes it works but most of the time it doesn’t.

Take yesterday for example…

On weekends and the occasional bank holiday Monday the various companies who operate the trains which run on the miscellaneous tracks which used to constitute the British rail network collectively run this offer whereby for an upgrade fee of £10 you get to travel First Class. On a Silverlink train this means that you get to sit in the partitioned section of the second carriage, separated from the plebs by a swing door that may / may not work depending on the efficacy of the vandals operating in the Willesden and Harlesden areas of North London. On a GNER or a Branson run Virgin train you get lots of leg room, very likely a table unit to yourself, a free sandwich, a cup of tea or coffee, biscuits and a copy of The Daily Telegraph or The Times if you are travelling under the steam of Mr. Branson

Because I have ideas above my station (Station! Ha-ha! Geddit!?) if I travel by rail at the weekend I almost always pay the upgrade and travel First Class. After all, £10 isn’t much money for afore mentioned luxuries.

This past weekend I went home to Bath to see my family and friends and to teach my Mum how to use her new Mac Mini (which in itself is worthy of a lengthy blog post.) Yesterday, at about 6pm, Mum dropped me off at Bath station and I hopped onto the train that would take me back to London.

As usual economy was packed, so I hauled my ass down to the First Class carriages and proceeded to make myself at home by taking over four seats and a table with my iPod, mobile phone, book, newspapers, sweater and hand luggage.

Not long after the train pulled away from the platform the ticket inspector entered the carriage and started asking us passengers for our tickets. Eventually he got to me and I produced my normal economy ticket and my Solo card and asked for the weekend upgrade.

Before I go on I need to explain, for the benefit of my non-British readers what a solo card is. How shall I do this? Oh, ok...

American Express Centurion = Versace*
American Express = Jil Sander
Mastercard = Miu Miu
Visa = Gucci
Switch /Maestro = Urban Outfitters
Solo = Target / George at Asda

* Because wealth and good taste do not always go hand-in-hand

Now, I should point out that I have, at various points in my personal life and career, been in possession of all of the above credit cards, except for the Centurion, which I am working on. I have even had a Coutts business account credit card which would have gotten me upgrades and access to premium class lounges at airports worldwide, but I had to give it back two weeks after I received it, because I resigned from my job.

The reason that I currently only have a Solo card is because when I lived in America my British bank account went stagnant or putrid or whatever the correct banking terminology is for an account which has stopped operating. As a result, when I returned to England, I was only allowed a Solo card and not a normal Switch card because the bank needed to see healthy account activity. Healthy meaning that my account should not go over the agreed overdraft facility. I’ll leave you to deduce why, after twelve months, I am still in possession of a Solo card.

Back to the story:

Inspector - “Sorry sir, but we don’t accept Solo. Do you have a Switch card?”

It was an affront to me that he was even insinuating that I would actually choose to pay by Solo if I was, indeed, in possession of a Switch or any other type of card for that matter. Also I immediately realised that I was facing the very real possibility that I was going to be made to do the walk of shame – ejected from First Class to Cattle Class, because I couldn’t pay a measily £10.

So I did what any gay man worth his salt would have done in the same situation.

I completely over-reacted.

Christopher (completely aware that hardly anyone or any company accepts Solo) - “But that’s completely ridiculous that you don’t take Solo! Besides, I’ve paid by Solo countless times before.”

Inspector - “You can’t have done sir. We’ve never accepted Solo.”

Instantly I realise that he’s completely correct and that, previously, I’ve always paid using one of my credit cards, all of which I recently cut up in the effort to streamline my life.

Fuck.

Christopher (out and out lying now) – “Well that’s just as ridiculous, because I paid for a train ticket by Solo just last week. Here, I have the receipt in my wallet."

As I search through my wallet for a non-existent receipt which proved I paid for a non-existent journey with a payment card that the company didn't accept I realised that I had pretty much lost my mind, but much more importantly, the argument.

I looked up at the inspector.

Christopher - "I'm going to have to move to economy, aren't I?"

He nodded.

Making the most almighty fuss I collected my belongings and slumped back off to economy where I was forced to sit next to some chav who was, while being scum (naturally), deeply attractive in a chav-y kind of way.

Eventually the same ticket inspector made his way up to Saddo Class and asked for my ticket. I knww that the bastard did this on purpose because his smile showed that he recognised me and he had already stamped my ticket when I was in First.

It took every micron of restraint I could muster to stop myself pouncing out of my seat and deftly cutting his throat with a quick swipe of my Solo card.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Nude

When I was younger I would do almost anything to avoid being alone. I was actually deeply insecure about it. Occasionally I would have these visions – really, really vivid waking dreams where I would be in the present but after some kind of apocalypse had taken place and I would be the only person in the world - completely alone.

That was a long time ago. As an adult, especially in my thirties, I really value the time that I get to spend by myself. The house that I live in is very conducive to being by one’s self. It’s homely and warm – alive. Maybe that’s the key – although I know I’m alone I feel that I am in the company of my home?

One of the things that I like most of all about being by myself is that feeling when you realise that you haven’t spoken out loud for hours and hours.

Last night I took the state of being alone one step further. While I am by no means a prude, I am not (always) comfortable with being completely naked (note the importance of the previous parenthetical!). Even if there is no one at home, I will generally put on some underwear before venturing from my bedroom to the bathroom to take a leak.

Last night I found myself at home, alone, wearing just a pair of tracksuit pants. For some reason I decided to be bold and took everything off to, you know, see how it felt, to see if I could just get used to the idea of being nekkid, without any sexual undertones, without feeling overly self-conscious or stupid.

So I “disrobed” and watched some TV and for a while I did feel kind of stupid. So I decided the best thing to do was to not just lie on the sofa, sans clothing, but to do stuff around the house.

So I tidied my room and hung out my washing (fortunately we have an indoor clotheshorse) and sorted through some of my clothes.

After that I was really completely oblivious to the fact that I was in my birthday suit. I decided that I would do the washing-up. So I stood there and washed the dishes and happily sang along to Fleetwood Mac.

As I finished cleaning the last dish I looked up and saw the guy who lives opposite us, stood in his kitchen window, staring directly at me. For a moment our eyes locked. And then we both scurried away with that unique brand of acute-embarrassment that is very poorly disguised as some sort of vacant absent-mindedness.

Needless to say I was somewhat mortified. So I went and put my tracksuit pants back on.

And a yashmak.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Back in the saddle again

So the boy from DTPM and I … hold that thought. I need to give him a pseudonym. Ok, how about DT-boy? Yeah, that works.

So DT-boy and I have been rampantly emailing and texting each other for the past 48 hours. Already he has complemented me on my abs and my dress sense (which is extraordinarily perceptive of him, given that for most of the night I was only wearing a pair of Abercrombie cargo pants and a stupid grin.) As we all know, this is a sure fire way to my heart (and my loins.)

And just a few minutes ago he wrote (1% paraphrasing) “I remember enough about you to know that I definitely want to see you again.”

Phew! I haven’t been “pursued” for ages! Not since Jake! This is great!

Unfortunately we’re both incredibly busy boys and the soonest we can see each other is next Tuesday. Which is actually kind of good because it means that things are forced to move slow.

There is a small problem though.

I can’t remember what he looks like.

A novel way to deliver groceries

Quitting smoking has given me the impetus to make other changes in my life - some of them small, some of them big.

One of the bigger ones is to start eating properly in order to be more healthy and to spend less money - i.e. not constantly ordering from Deliverance and making my own lunch as opposed to buying it from Prêt.

London, geographically, is not hugely dissimilar to Los Angeles. It's a vast, sprawling city, with many boroughs and towns, albeit with a fairly workable public transport system. Still, without a car (I can't rely on using my housemates) a weekly shop without recruiting a taxi-cab can be a bit of a nightmare and when your local supermarket is in Brixton it is actually an experience to be avoided at all costs.

Last week I decided to try online grocery shopping with Tesco (interesting tidbit - when I was a student and but a lowly checkout cashier, I was the fastest "scanner". We'll forget the fact that, as a result, your groceries were pummeled as I threw them into the packing bin at supersonic speed.)

Now there is a cost to online grocery shopping - the £3.99 ($7.27) delivery fee. But still, that's a small price to pay to have them delivered straight to your door. And if that wasn't good enough, the system remembers what you ordered from previous weeks so all you have to do in future is click a box. It's amazing and almost arouses me sexually. Almost.

Last week was the second week that I ordered my groceries online. Saturday was extra special because I had ordered the ingredients to make Oatmeal and Raisin cookies, Mama Christopher style. So, imagine my excitement when the front door buzzer went.

Sorry, before I continue, I need to tell you that I live on the first floor (for my American readers, that's the second floor) of an apartment block. To get into the building you have to buzz up at the front door and when I've answered I press a button and you're allowed in. Except that our front door is currently broken and whenever someone wants to come up one of us has to go downstairs and let them in. It's most annoying, but apparently no one in the building can be bothered to let the building managers know about it. Including us.

So I answered the buzzer.

"Hello?"

"Delivery."

"Ok. The door doesn't work, so I'll come down and open it."

As I am only wearing a pair of tighty-whities I desperately run around the apartment trying to find a pair of PJ pants. While I am doing this I can hear the delivery guy hammering away at the door downstairs, trying to get in.

Miraculously, in about 15 seconds I am halfway decent. I lift up the intercom phone again and repeat. "Don't try and push the door open. It doesn't work. I'm coming down right now!"

I open the front door run down the stairs, arriving in the hall at just the right moment to witness the delivery-man literally kicking the door down!

"What are you doing?"

"The door wouldn't open."

"So you thought you'd kick it down? I told you it didn't open and I was coming down."

"No you didn't."

So instead of getting into an argument I collect myself and calmly try to explain why kicking the door down is not acceptable behaviour from a Tesco delivery-man. But in the back of my mind I remind myself that this is only the second week I've used to service so maybe it actually is.

Either way, my calm, rational approach did not go down well with the very argumentative and belligerent delivery fuckwit. In the end I conceded to his point of view and just grabbed the computer sign-y box thing and gave him my autograph for the groceries.

As he leaves I decide that actually I'm not going to take this crap lying down so I call out to him. "Hey! What's your name?"

"Peter Jones," he shouts over his shoulder. I immediately doubt this, not only because the man is black and sounds like he comes from Jamaica, but because Peter Jones is the name of a famous London department store.

I went back to my apartment and called the customer service centre. The representative I spoke to was appalled and shocked at the story I told her. Clearly she was used to people complaining that all their eggs were broken or that they had received a 200g of Tesco Economy Mature Cheddar as opposed to the Demi Pont L'eveque that they actually ordered. Oh and she also confirmed that my order was actually delivered by a man called something not at all like Peter Jones.

We finished our conversation with me understanding that the representative would talk to her supervisor and decide how the situation could be addressed and resolved to my satisfaction.

That was Saturday morning and it is now Tuesday evening. Has anyone called me back? What do you think?

Someone at Tesco HQ is going to get a right earful tomorrow morning. They were going to get an earful this morning too, but I forgot to call them.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

It's good to gloat.

I just had to record this here for posterity:

Last night I went to DTPM and ended up kissing the same guy I kissed the last time I went. Only this time he asked for my number. We've spent the majority of today on our respective sofas, texting one another.

I just got this:

"Well u are a handsome guy, but u have the most incredible abs...I couldn't stop touching them last night!"

Me! Abs!!! Bless him! No one has ever said that about me / my stomach before!

Clearly he made out with someone else last night.

Monday, May 30, 2005

Which of these scenarios is the worst?

A) Walking past a busker who is playing guitar and singing "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, thinking Ooh! That's not a bad rendition!, yet not offering the busker any spare change.

B) Walking past a busker who is playing guitar and singing "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion, thinking Ooh! That's not a bad rendition!, not offering the busker any money, then finding and listening to the song on my iPod.

C) Having "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion on my iPod.

Saturday, May 28, 2005

Hmm...

Hayden Christensen's sexuality is drawing an unprecedented amount of people to my blog.

Suckers!

Friday, May 27, 2005

Christopher's Choice

If I were a superhero I would very probably be a sinister Tim Burton-esque type character. I would call myself something like Grosslyunfortunateboy, for example. In the past year I have suffered from a broken jaw, vocal chord paralysis, strydor and a blocked salivary gland. The latter, if you recall, required "milking".

*shudders*

On Saturday I went to a pub in my old stomping ground, West Hampstead, to watch the FA Cup Final with Lynda, Alison, Robbie and Richard. Actually I did less "watching football" and much more "getting in the way of the big TV screen", much to the irritation of the local punters.

At one point during our conversation, Robbie (who is going to be a father in two weeks time) starts to look strangely at my right eye. "Do you have a sty?"

"No!" I tell him, and, irritated, touch the "offending" eyelid with my finger.

What I find is not a sty. I've had many a sty before and they are not like what I found this time - hard and not painful. A lump, basically.

Great. Cancer.

I start to wonder if I'm going to have to have my eyelid removed. Will I have to wear an eyepatch, Darryl Hannah / Kill Bill style? It has not escaped me that whenever faced with a crisis that will affect my appearance (you may laugh, but if you are a regular here you will know joke I most certainly do not) my first thought is, "But will boys at DTPM want to kiss me?"

(I can reliably inform you that in the instance of a wired-up broken jaw, the answer to this particular question is, "no.")

This morning I went to my doctor. My doctor is, quite simply, the best freaking doctor in the entire northern hemisphere, nay, the world. I know this, because by lightly touching my eyelid for a fraction of a second he knew that the lump was not malignant but actually a simple Meibomian Cyst.

Amazing.

My doctor told me that I have two options. The first is that I rub the cyst with a warm flannel every night, for five minutes before I go to bed for the next month. He clearly doesn't know me very well. If he did he would have understood why I could barely suppress my mirth for, oh, about ten minutes.

The second option is that I have surgery to remove it. "Most people don't elect for this option, because it's not a very nice procedure."

Oooh! Surgical gross out! I lean forward and excitedly, and slightly conspiratorially, whisper, "Why? What do they do?"

"Well," he explains, using that incredibly patronizing I'm a medical professional and thus very clever - I have your eyelid life in my hands tone. "It's not a general anesthetic procedure. You receive a local anesthetic and you can see everything they do to you. Or at least you can see the surgical implements coming towards your eye. Most patients who have a Meibomian Cyst elect for the non-surgical option."

I think it over, but it doesn't take long to come to a conclusion. DTPM plus Meibomian Cysts. Hmmm.

No prizes for guessing what I opted for.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Up in smoke

I have been a smoker since the tender age of 18. I started when I was at art-college, because it was a way to hang out with Craig Piercy in his car in the campus car park. Craig was and probably still is one of the most beautiful men I have ever been acquainted with – all baby blue eyes, eyelashes like elegant spiders and long blonde hair. He majored in pottery, so he was always dirty looking. There’s definitely something about a guy in jeans and a white, clay-streaked T-shirt, especially when that guy is hotter than, dare I say it, Hayden or Clive, both sweating and standing directly over the Equator.

Sadly, my relationship with Craig did not progress further than deep, post-pubescent tête-à-tête’s. My relationship with Marlboro Lights, however, proved to have substantially more longevity.

As most of you know, five weeks ago I had surgery on my throat. To cut (har-har!) a long story short, the surgery was not as successful as I was hoping for and in actual fact seemed to be detrimental to both the quality of my breathing and my voice.

Three weeks ago he accompanied me to Brighton to another consultation with my throat surgeon. During the consultation my surgeon asked me if I had given up smoking, to which I regretfully responded by telling him that I had not. In no uncertain terms he told me that if I was going to have any chance of getting better I had to stop smoking. No question about it. I just had to stop.

So immediately following the appointment Drew frog-marched me to W.H Smith and made me buy Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking, which three of my friends, Drew included, have read to successfully quit smoking. I actually bought it myself a couple of years ago, but in retrospect I don’t think that I was actually ready or prepared to stop smoking, so it didn’t work. I’m also not a big proponent of self-help books, or of therapy in general, having stumbled around under it’s “jurisdiction” for many, many years.

Not only because of my own health, but seeing how smoking induced lung cancer had recently consumed my Granddad, this time I was ready. In essence, the way the book works is by deprogramming you, while making you smoke at the same time. It forces you to challenge and re-evaluate all the subtle lies you, as a smoker, have told yourself over the years. One of the most fundamental of these is the concept of “giving up” smoking and understanding that this phrase is a total misnomer, because in actual fact you are giving up nothing and gaining everything – health and money to name but two of the obvious benefits. The book was so effective that by the time I was half way through I knew that I was already a non-smoker. Every cigarette was a nightmare and painful to smoke. By the time I reached the last chapter and was told to smoke my last cigarette I was relieved to say the least.

That last cigarette was two weeks ago today. Two weeks might not seem like a long time to you, but consider this – that is the longest I have voluntarily not smoked for eight years when I last attempted to give up, using the old fashioned willpower. That last time I was literally gagging to smoke for most of about four weeks.

This time has been completely different. I am quite simply a non-smoker now. One of the things the book tells you to do is to not avoid the situations where you would normally want to smoke, because the successful ability to get through these situations, during this withdrawal period, will provide the impetus for continued success.

Since I became a non-smoker two weeks ago I have been clubbing four times, been on two major benders and have been out for four dinners. I have had only one “moment” – two days after quitting while waiting in the queue for Ghetto with this man. Fortunately he refused to give me one of his, which I am glad about, because I would have been so mad at myself and probably would have killed him.

I cannot exaggerate what an achievement this is for me! Anyone who has known me for any amount of time will tell you that there was every possibility that I would be a smoker until my smoking-catalyzed dying day. The other thing is that I find myself noticing smokers so much more than I did when I was a smoker and I’m regarding them with pity. There is something about someone walking down the street, puffing away on a cigarette that is so NOT attractive - they are in fact a drug-addict. I can see now what all my friends saw when they looked at me and I have to say that I’m a little embarrassed.

So – me … a twenty a day smoker, now smokes zero a day, with no pangs at all and I keep finding myself smiling or giggling at the thought of how ridiculous I used to be.

Now, I wonder if Allen Carr has written an Easy Way to Control Your Crack Habit?

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Hayden, he no gay - part deux

As you may recall, I recently embarked on a small mission to uncover the truth about those Hayden Christensen "gay" rumours.

It has always seemed to me that gay men, in particular, are extremely willing and eager to believe the rumours about Tom Cruise / Richard Gere / Brandon Routh / Kevin Spacey / Matthew McConaughey / Hayden Christensen / Robbie Williams / et al.

The thing with a rumour is that is all it usually is. In the absence of a truth or a fact, a rumour will always be a rumour. I get to work with many entertainment reporters from newspapers, magazines and TV shows alike. These people get sent picture evidence of celebrity un-doings all the time, but many of those pics are unprintable because they are just too far over the line. One of my journo contacts at Heat magazine (the British equivalent of In Touch) told me that she once received pictures of a certain British supermodel unconscious at some party, with a hyperdermic syringe still inserted into a vein in her arm. She told me that in the UK or the US, that type of picture, 99% of the time, would never get printed. It's one step too far. But she told me that what definitely would get printed is a picture of Robbie Williams kissing his boyfriend on a sunlounger at the Sunset Marquis. Except, she told me, she has hardly ever received a picture of a celebrated man or woman kissing or embracing their respective boyfriend or girlfriend.

This does not, of course, mean that there are no gay celebrities working in the entertainment industry today. Like, duh! But it would be naive of anyone to think that Tom Cruise publicly outing himself would have either little or no negative impact on his box-office stock. With that in mind one can assume that any A-list actor working in Hollywood today would go to desperate measures to cover up the truth about his or her sexuality.

But consider this - these stars are followed and photographed constantly. People slip up, all the time. And when you consider how easy it is, these days, to take photographs of anyone in any situation, incredibly discreetly, it seems "moderately" inconceivable that there is still no picture evidence of any of this apparently rampant celebrity gayness.

It's not really surprising that many gay men (myself included) want the likes of Tom Cruise to be gay. After all, we have so few role-models (although I'm not sure Tom Cruise is really worthy of anyone role-modeling themselves on. Shagging, maybe) in the entertainment industry. I have to wonder though - would Tom Cruise be quite as desirable if he were out? Isn't the allure in the fact that we don't really know for sure?

Regardless - however damning the rumours appear to be, in the absence of afore mentioned truth / fact, 100% of the time I will always regard any kind of rumour, whether it relates to a celebrity or a close friend, with reservedness.

But I'm allowed to have my suspicions. Mr.Christensen - I am not convinced about you. I certainly don't believe the tabloid rumours that Hayden is currently pashing Kevin Spacey - a hug is, in my eyes, not damning evidence. But when I saw this clip of Hayden and Ewan McGregor sharing a "moment" outside the London premiere of Revenge of the Sith, I couldn't help but wonder.

In this instance my gaydar is not screaming to me that Ewan is gay. But he is, by his own admission, very metrosexual. In real life and in his movies (anyone seen The Pillow Book?) he appears to be the type of guy who is both old enough and secure enough in his heterosexuality to not have a problem with kissing a man on the lips.

Hayden, however, as far as I am concerned, does not have the relevant case history. How many 24 year old, heterosexual men do you know who would feel comfortable kissing another man on the lips for a good second? A second is actually quite a long time in heterosexual-men-kissing-each-other-on-the-lips terms. What do you think?

Ok - you've probably guessed that I really want to believe this one particular rumour. Regardless of the truth, sadly I have to face that fact that even if Hayden is gay, it is unlikely that he will ever be my boyfriend. *sniff*

Still, no harm in extendedly briefly looking upon him and feeling vaguely weak in the presence of his beauty.

Hayden? J'taime.

hayden

And again...

I just returned home with Vix after having watched Revenge of the Sith for the second time.

As Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, holding baby Luke, looked out at the two suns of Tattooine, I began to cry again although, admittedly, not as much as on Saturday night.

Alerted by my sniffling, Vix turned to me and with mock-exasperation, shook her head. "You are so gay!"

I believe she may have a point.

Monday, May 23, 2005

What’s with the socks?

*untapes mouth*

Good lord! That was quite difficult! All week long, so many little things happened which I totally wanted to blog about and I couldn't! If you are ever having blogger’s block or whatever you want to call it, this is the thing to do.

Ok, first off, I may have confused some of you with the photographs. So let me explain. If I were a true artist I would probably not feel the need to do this (and, er, yes, I have Photoshop), but I'm nice, so…

Monday - Expectations is a gay sex shop I visited on Monday - that was a picture of the entrance. It’s on Old Street, around the corner from where I work and also from where I used to work. It’s really huge and kinda dingy but the assistants are really nice and friendly (but not that friendly). Scandalously, one of my friends recognised the neon entrance sign, as he was once employed by the owners to name a range of dildos.

Tuesday - that was the fountains in the courtyard of Somerset House. Somerset House is where every birth and death in the UK is recorded and archived. I went there with the intention of finding out if I could “see” my name, but when I got there I realised that was kinda dumb. So I sat in the courtyard instead and watched the fountains and read some of The Time Travellers Wife.

Wednesday - that was Millie - mine and my housemate’s friend’s baby. I got home to find her on my housemate’s bed. And that was not red eye. Like Christina, in the recently cancelled Fox show Point Pleasant, I believe that Millie might actually be half-human and half the daughter of Lucifer. Most of the time she is really well behaved but occasionally she can be a real little bitch.

Thursday - (left to right) yours truly, Drew and Drew’s friend Sam. We went to Nag Nag Nag at Ghetto - the second time I had been there in less than four days. We had the most fabulous time and we all kissed boys, I think. By writing “I think” I don’t mean that we may have kissed girls (perish the thought!) but that I’m not sure if Sam kissed a boy or not. But Drew and I definitely kissed boys.

Friday - I accidentally took a picture of my crotch while sitting on the railings next to the Southbank Centre, which is right next to the Thames. Earlier in the week Dantallion had requested that I post up naked pictures. Later in the week I read that he had decided to take an indefinite break from blogging, which made me sad. So I dedicated that picture of my crotch to him.

Saturday - I was drunk and for reasons too complicated to go into here I took my favourite teddy bear, Kwah Wah (at the point of naming him I was far too young to be able to properly pronounce the word “Koala”) to work. On the way home I stopped off at Tesco and thought it would be amusing to take a picture of him next to a trolley. I had a working title for this one – “Kwah Wah has an existential dilemma”.

Sunday - I went to see Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith with Helen, Lindsay, Drew, Atul and Richard. This is incredibly embarrassing to admit, but when the film ended I was upset and crying, almost to the point of hyperventilating. Yeah, I know – gay. As we left the cinema, Helen had to accompany me away from other others for a minute or two so that I could compose myself. Basically this was never going to just be a regular movie trip for me - Star Wars was one of the first movies I saw at the cinema and is very much a part of both my youth and my adulthood. I have watched each of the movies countless times, so in more ways than one this movie was going to bring “closure”. Aside from that it was also just a pretty cool movie as well as more than compensating for the previous two, which were, it has to be said, a little bit of a let down.

Oh, and the title of this post? Those of you who get Urban Dictionary’s Word of the Day will know what it means. And those of you who just clicked on that link.

Until tomorrow...

Monday, May 16, 2005

Blogtox, um, thingy

Ok, there are things I want to say. Things about work, health, family, friends, travel, money, etc.

But, of late, it's been about hair.

I do feel like I need to write some kind of mental "enema". I'm not unhappy per se, but I feel that my brain is congested with so much stuff at the moment ...

But before I write about those things, I need to clear my head. I once heard that Evan Dando stopped speaking for a month or for a year, or something, and that he found the whole experience incredibly cathartic and cleansing. So I'm going to do the same. Kind of ...

For the next seven days (that’s Monday to Sunday, peeps) there will be no more words from Christopher. Only pictures. One a day. A peek into my world.

Ooooh! Maybe this could be the new big thing! Blog detox!?

Or not.

Anyhoo ... here are some nice soft floor cushions to lie back on.

*throws cushions*

Depending on your point of view this could be the longest, or the shortest, slide show known to man.

*tapes mouth shut*

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Christopher's Wednesday blog post (Christopher his Wednesday blog post)

It's a long, boring story but there is a genuine, legitimate reason why I am not the world's expert when I turn my hand to the subject of punctuation and grammar.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I asked him a question:

"Where in the 'dogs cats bowl' does / do the apostrophe/s go?"

And he told me:

"The dog's cat's bowl. Perhaps it might help you to know that (I could be wrong about this but I don't think so) the possessive apostrophe is actually a contraction of '[noun] his.' So people used to say things like 'the dog his bowl.' That got shortened to 'the dog's bowl.'

"The apostrophe always comes after the noun of ownership. If that noun is singular (dog), the apostrophe comes after that, followed by an s (dog's). If the noun is plural (dogs), the apostrophe comes after that (dogs')."

[now etched onto my brain]

As a "thank you" for his outstanding tutelage, I promised him that I would recommend (not loan) his new book "Gay Haiku", which was released yesterday, to all of my friends.

Faustus's book (Faustus his book.)

I am slightly disgruntled over the fact that the soonest Amazon can get said book to me is by May 24. Goddamn this far-flung isle.

My breakfast

porridge

I've recently started eating porridge for breakfast. I hadn't eaten porridge for years, not since I was a kid, when I thought it looked and tasted like vomit. But with honey and bananas (not sure about the Kiwi in this picture though) it is deelish! It's also a slow release energy food so you don't get that mid-afternoon nap slump.

And the best thing about porridge? Celebs are eating it! Kate Moss, Donna Air, Mischa Barton, P. Diddy and most importantly my favourite homeboy, Clive.

I'm going to a Puma by Maharishi party tonight and I'm hoping for something scandalous to happen, so tomorrow I won't have to tell you what I currently have for my lunch (gravy.)

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

The One About the Promise

Sometime last year I made someone I care about very much make me a promise. In retrospect I guess it was a stupid promise to ask him to make, with no real consequence one way or the other, but nonetheless at the time it was important to me that I felt that this was one line that he would never, ever cross.

I actually found out some time ago that the promise had been broken - the day after it happened, if I remember correctly. Discretion, it would seem, has never been a particularly favored virtue amongst gay men. It was actually a good friend who told me that what had happened had happened. With good, honest intentions this was someone who felt that I should know. And it was an act of kindness I quickly rebuffed in a misguided attempt to sweep the gravity of what the broken promise meant to me, at the time, under the carpet.

That didn’t stop me, however, indirectly attempting to discover the truth, direct from the horse’s mouth. But I was told in a roundabout way that I had been misinformed and I chose to believe that. I believed it because I wanted to believe it.

Yesterday, for some reason, he told me the truth. Which of course, really I already knew. And I told him that, but I didn’t tell him how I knew. Some things are better left unsaid.

Isn’t it amazing how our minds work? I knew. I knew it beyond the shadow of a doubt! I had the word of a good friend. Yet it is months and months after the fact that I finally actually hear it. Really, really hear it.

Here’s the thing - when I made this person make that promise I really cared that they wouldn’t break it. And I now I find myself not caring that they did. Not in a bad way. I just woke up this morning with the realisation that it doesn’t really matter. Life is way too short. I don’t think any less of him. It doesn’t make him a bad person. He’s still one of my favourite people.

This is the thing - I can’t be mad at anyone for breaking any promise. Because I made a promise to him and to everyone I know once too. A really, really big one. And I broke it spectacularly and there were consequences.

But then, afterwards, I made the same promise again. Once more. This one won't be broken.

I know that you all know that.

Monday, May 09, 2005

[proof]

Taken last night, at dinner, in Birmingham (for my best friend's 31st birthday).

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I wish my cheeks were more sculpted. I must have practically 0.01% body fat, except on my cheeks. I smile and hampsters within a twenty mile radius start knawing through their cage bars in order to get to me.

Oh! I made a remarkable discovery last night. Or was it this morning? Anyway - sticking to the same drink, i.e. not mixing, means that you don't get incredibly drunk, very, very quickly and you don't wake up in the morning with the hangover from hell!

I'm sometimes a little slow on the uptake.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

The Darth Side

God bless my friend Robbie for alerting me to this. Scottish people do, after all, have their uses:

Darth Vadar's blog!

"Okay, I admit it. I cut off the kid's hand. Everything went downhill after that. Blast! Blast! Blast! I am such an idiot."

Right...

I had my hair cut and you'll be most relieved to know that I am pleased with the result.

Now, I know your next questions is going to be, "Can we see a picture?" Well, you can, but you're going to have to wait until Monday because this evening I had a fuck up with the hair dye. I decided to get rid of the highlights and go back to being my usual mono shade of dark brown (Gayer Nutresse No.145 - Sexual Chocolate). But when I came to mix the solution, instead of using the colour concentrate, I accidentally dumped the contents of the post-colour intensive conditioning treatment tube into the developing mix.

Even though I realised I'd messed up before I put the contents of the bottle onto my freshly sheared barnet, I will admit to freaking out, just a little bit.

Unfortunately it was my second freak out in less than 48 hours, both of which occurred infront of Vix, who after having lived with me for almost a year, had never born witness to a Christopher freak out.

I'd like to say that when I freak out I'm like Madeline Kahn in Clue:

"I hated her ... so ... much ... I ... it ... it ... flame. Flames ... on the side of my face ... breathing ... breath ... heaving breaths ... heaving ..."

Or that I freak out like my brother - pure, unbridled rage, coupled with a spark of pure psychopathy. He's very, very good at this one and will demonstrate it at the drop of a hat - for example, the time when he found out that the fleas present on William, our cat, had laid eggs in the follicles of his chest hair, or the time when I accidentally drove my car over his already broken foot, or the time when Mum found and destroyed his hidden marijuana farm, or the time when...

But I don't freak out in either of those ways. I'll leave you to guess exactly how I freak out. But I'll tell you this: I'm seriously considering exacting a terrible revenge against Vix for laughing profusely at me, on both of the occasions.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

The One With the Bathhouse

Elizabeth has an expression for the sordid dens of iniquity that many of us gay boys like to frequent from time to time. It's an expression I rather like:

Steam emporiums.

Yesterday afternoon, at about 4.30pm, I realised that I had a bit of the horn thang goin' on. As the dial on the wallclock inched towards home time, I began to realise that this particular sensation was not something that I was simply going to be able to take into, erm, hand once I had arrived back at the pad. Therefore I decided that needs must sometimes involve another and at 6pm I hopped on the Northern Line to the fairly newly decked out steam emporium in Waterloo.

For the uninitiated amongst you (my female and dwindling straight male readership), here is the deal with gay bathhouses:

1) Gay bathhouses are not necessarily seedy affairs. Infact many of the more established ones in London are more akin to top notch health clubs than your average heterosexual "Swedish Saunas"

2) Hot guys with good bodies and decent sized, er, intellects are often in abundance (although it does depend on the time of the day)

3) You get free condoms and safe sex is actively encouraged

4) People are not, on the whole, going at it infront of each other

5) There is usually a bar, where you can have a civilised pre / post coital drink with your new fun-buddy

6) It is possible to turn a steam ream rendezvous into something less steamy afterwards

7) The guys are not completely naked (and guys look surprisingly hot in a white towel and nothing else)

8) Most gay men have been to a bathhouse at least once

9) Most gay men have been to a bathhouse at least twice

10) It's good clean fun!

So I get to the steam emporium, hand over my £12 (yeah, ok - it is quite expensive) and receive my two towels (no prizes for guessing why you get two.) I probably spent about half an hour soaking up the atmosphere, literally and metaphorically, before I start gettin' down to the serious business of gettin' myself some serious business.

Now ok, while I said that the guys are not, on the whole, going at it infront of each other, you will, if you keep your eyes peeled, notice a few fumbles going on under towels. That's not really my scene. I prefer catching some cute guy's stare, exchanging a few cheeky smiles and having a bit of a chat, before venturing off into a private (lockable) cabin and getting down to some fun, fun, fun!

And that was how it was last night. No sex on a rope swing a la Joan Collins and Oliver Tobias in The Stud. His name was Stephan, looked a bit like the footballer Ryan Giggs, had a great bod and was a really, really good kisser. And he knew all the other stuff. After we were done, we exchanged the customary pleasantries ("Thanks man! That was hot! What was your name again?") And I went off to have a shower and get changed.

On my way out I handed my locker key over to the attendant at reception. As I put the key infront of him on the desk the guy (actually a breathtakingly cute early twentysomething) looked up from his copy of Boyz or whatever it was and looked at me, at first, absentmindedly. But after about a millisecond a look of recognition sparked into his face, which then extended into a very broad, very "knowing" grin.

"Looked like someone was having some fun earlier!"

The cute receptionist is talking to me, I thought. But what words are these, coming out of his mouth?

"Ergh?"

"You! In the Jacuzzi! Looked like you were having some fun!" he exclaimed with this kinda weird smug thing going on, gesticulating towards a CCTV screen, semi-hidden behind his desk.

I believe that what must have been, initially, a look of distant interest in having this young whippersnapper speak to me quickly turned into a glare of incredulous disdain.

"I didn't do anything in the Jacuzzi. I didn't get in the Jacuzzi!"

The whippersnapper just smiled and gave me the "Yeah, whatever." look, before dipping his head back down to his free gayboy rag.

"But I didn't," I quietly repeated, more to myself this time around.

And then I left, feeling much less randy, but somewhat confused. Was that a line he pulls on all the punters as they leave the premises feeling all washed and clean (and spent), in order to try to make them feel embarrassed about having random, lusty sex with strangers?

Or did I actually just get wildly gang-banged in a Jacuzzi whilst being watched on grainy black and white CCTV by a cute, young whippersnapper ... all of it without my knowledge?

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

"If I Don't Look Good, You Don't Look Good"

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Your votes are in and you appear to have elected for this:

me1

But, I swear, with Vidal Sassoon as my witness, that once I have it done on Thursday, if I hate it and regret it, you will all be so very, very sorry! Yeah, you should be scared, because I am Rosemary's Baby:

Genuine baby picture of Christopher
pram

Seriously! You can just about see my head!

Now, my Mum took that picture and her name is Rosalie, which is almost Rosemary, so while I guess that technically makes me Rosalie's Baby, it's still near enough. Also, Vidal Sassoon did Mia Farrow's famous gamine crop on the actual set of Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. And I mentioned Vidal Sassoon earlier in this post. And I used to do the PR for Vidal Sassoon. And [insert further menacing coincidences].

All legitimate reasons why you should all be afraid that I might not like my new hair cut. Democracy comes at a price, kids.

(Note: it just occurred to me that this is not actually an experiment - I did have my hair cut like that before and I did like it. Oh. Perhaps I should just put a sock in it?)

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Not a vanity post (er, no really, it's not...)

As many of you are doubtlessly aware, about six months ago I decided to undertake an extremely time consuming project - I decided to grow my hair out.

Now that my hair is genuinely that bit longer than normal I am beginning to have doubts that floppy hair is actually befitting a thirtysomething, professional gay man, like wot I am.

The plus side of having long hair, for me, is that, well, I just have the most sensationally amazing hair - naturally shiny and straight, in a rich and lustrous chocolate shade of brown. I get lovely comments from boys, jealous girls and friends, who know very well not to mess with the fragile ego of moi.

The downside is that, um, I get bored easily. When I was at the gay boy party at Soho House on Sunday afternoon I was struck by how I had the longest hair at the party. Not that there is anything wrong with setting yourself aside from the stereotype, but there were so many cute guys with lovely short barnets and suddenly I started to feel isolated from my fellow homoboys. I asked myself the question - am I just wasting my time, when I could be all stud-u-like with a short and messy? Am I just making myself look like even more of a bit of a pansy?

So today, dear readers, I am giving you The Ultimate Power*. I am providing each and every one of you with the chance to voice your opinion on how you think my hair best suits me. To give you a nice array of Christopher hair choices to pick from, I have literally spent ten minutes hours and hours trudging through old pics of me.

Please leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section at the end of this post.

* Explanation of The Ultimate Power - I take on board your comments, nod a bit, then I do exactly the opposite of what you tell me to do.


Me, today (albeit, Sunday)
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And your choices are:

Cropped
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Short and messy
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Short and messy with blonde tips
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Short and messy and yellow blonde
me2

Preppy
DSCF0002

In-between
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Dimanche

My throat has been quite troublesome this last week. I’ve been really hoarse and short of breath and I’ve had to get two batches of steroids from the hospital, including one trip on Saturday.

So you probably think that I ditched my hectic Sunday plans for a quiet night in, infront of the TV, cozying myself under a blanket, right?

Like, duh!

Less words, more pictures...

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