My Leather Life

Okay i'm gonna make this short and sweet.
1)Paris was Great (Pictures to come, sooner or later)
2)Mike and I are hitting the skids again and dont know if we can hold on any longer.
3)Work has been killing me physically and mentally
4)It's getting harder to stay afloat and close to giving up on my car.
5)Applied for 10 serious jobs and 8 part-time gigs.
6)Was rejected for 8 serious jobs and 6 part-time gigs.
7)Was ditched at Gay days
8)Convertible top isnt working
9)Long hair is a Bitch to maintain
10)I finally caved in to peer pressure and got a myspace page!!!!!! ARGH!!!!!
11)I've had a cold for the past week
12)I lost my frigging YSL perscription glasses

1)i'm still alive
2)I get to go cycling tomorrow
3)I got a lead on a job
4)I have Family
5)I have my Leather Family
6)I have you as my friends


So all in all not to bad, i just have to be patient and think good thoughts. The universe is bound to hear my cries.

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: disappointed
Current Music: Hurt by Christina Aguilera

Hey All

I arrived back into the Good U.S. of A! i'll post more as soon as i get a regular sleeping pattern. But here is a few points i'd like point out.

1) The American currency versus the Euro is INSANE! a can of Coca Cola made in europe 2 euro convertion thats roughly $3.

2) The the entire week in Paris i only saw 3 hot guys. the Customs Officer arriving and 2 other guys. The 2 other guys werent even French, their German tourist. Mike was in French Euro Boy/Bel Ami boy heaven.

3)Euro Disney is about the 1/16 the size of Disneyland. But the Space Mountain:Mission 2 Fucking Rocked. Now i know why Europeans are disappointed with our LA version.

4)France has a great subway system, but you have to walk everywhere.

5) Food Portions are the size of your fist and 3times as expensive.

More to come......thank god i'm home

Anyone wanna go to Hooters wit me tonight?

Current Location: Marina Del Rey
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: My Need by Janet Jackson

So i get Nudged by alphapup because i havent posted in a while. So here goes.
I've been feeling a bit over worked lately and been really stressed about things. Even with Summer camp and having a great time, i still have some things really weighting my mind. I really have been searching for answers and am either afraid of the answers and results or just dont know where to get started. Here's the List of Crap.

1) At summer camp i had to defend myself, because of the life i lead. Someone thought it was okay to put me down for no other reason than to make them feel better. And that actually got to me. I make no lies about the life i lead, its my life and i'm happy with it. If comparing your life to mine gives you a sense of superiority then great. It just lets me know that no matter what you say doesnt really matter. Yeah you make more money than me, but there is more to life than what you have. I can easily say i'm the riches hard working poor guy. I may not have a fancy car, live in a apartment, and travel the world. But i'm Rich in others way he will never have.

2) I've been working like a dog trying to keep my head afloat and i end up being over qualified for the most basic jobs. If that isnt a double edged sword. I'm to smart to work as a cashier, yet i can get a job at FedEx? Someone explain that to me?

3)There are things i really dont want to share just yet. Some things are just way to private.

I hope that isnt way too vague. Hope my Vacation helps calm me down.

Current Location: Bed
Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: Hit Me With Your Best Shot by Pat Benatar

Tuesday was bad, had one of my molars pulled out, and staved and bleed all evening. Wednesday i found out my boss is posting another shift bid because of lack of man-power. This is terrible news because i may end up with different days of. I loved having Sunday/Monday off because i can play softball and run errands on Monday. I may end up with Friday Saturday Evening shift from 3:30-12am. The biggest bitch is that i wont be able to go to anymore Dodger games for the season on top of that. Thursday i had to teardown and move a entire bay full of engine generators and parts into a smaller space. To top it off all the dust i inhaled made it hard to breath all night. And this morning i got another rejection for a job i wanted, because it required a associate degree, even though my work experience was acceptable. So i went from being over qualified to be a cashier/stock clerk to being unable to hold a assistant job at a non-profit. So after a tough week i get shitted on, then told i'm not educated enough to work a remedial job. i decided to go out to Oil Can Harry's to try to forget about the week. i took a nap, shower and got all gussied up, the whole nine yards. I was having a great time, and took my cowboy hat off. Because of all my Friggin hair, it doesnt fit correctly. so i placed it on the chair next to me and befre i could say anything my friend Steven sat on my hat!!! To make matters worst Mike's been out to Roswell New Mexico for 2 weeks now. He was supposed to be back today, but now the aircraft in a Overhaul is placed on hold because of parts isses. He wont be back till Sunday the earliest and Tuesday the Latest. I miss him dearly and need a friggin hug. Thats it for now, i have to work tomorrow so hopefully the madness ends. If not i'll seriously go Bonkers, who knows i might actually drink a whole beer on sunday. who am kidding i'll just hold it.

Current Mood: aggravated
Current Music: Would You Go With Me by Josh Turner

Sunday afternoon i was getting jazzed about getting to the Rodeo. Sunday was my day to just relax and unwind. As i wound my way through Burbank to the equestrian center, i was looking at all the cyclist riding by and checking out their bikes. As i'm driving along i saw a Orbea Onix in orange (dream bike) and a few Treks too. As i was stopped at a light about a block from the LA Equestrian center i saw a guy walking his bike.

And i know what that "walk" a mile away. So i rolled down my window and said, "Excuse me Sir? Do you need tools or a tube?" As the light turned green he replied, "Would you have a spare tube i can buy from you?" Before i could answer the car behind me honked and i had to drive forward. I pulled over flipped a bitch. I asked what was wrong, he had a flat about four miles from where we stopped. This man was parked in the front of Griffith Park about another 4 miles from where we're stopped. I asked if he had a spare, and it turned out that when he used his hand pump he pulled the valve right off the stem. He had pulled the valve right off and couldnt inflat his tired anymore. So i offered him my spare tube in my bike bag, this man was a pro, he had his tire fixed in about 5 minutes. I still had my floor pump in the car and he asked, why i had so much gear in my car. I told him i just finished the AidsLifeCycle and am training with a group of friends. It also turned out his daughter did the AidsLifeCycle 2. It was a small world, he was very greatful that i stopped and helped. He was very grateful and offered me $20 for the spare tube.

I'll be honest, i'm broke as a joke and going to Rodeo was budgeted for the next 2 weeks i would have no problems taking the $20. But i couldnt, the tube didnt cost more than 5 bucks and it didnt feel right. So i told the man Frank was his name that "Thanks" is Thanks enough. I just told him, that if he sees someone with a flat around Griffith park to help them. And who knows it maybe be me he has to help out when i get a flat in the park.

I didnt think anything much after that, Rodeo was a blast. I got hit on by a Hot bear and of course got embarrassed and ran away. It was a fun time, but i do have a question. If i was a fellow cyclist and i saw someone on the road who needed help i would have atleast asked if they need help. On the drive to the Equestrian center i saw at least 7 cyclist on the road, why did nobody ask??? I also thought why didnt the gentleman flag down a cyclist and ask for help???

For all my ALC riders, my LABoL Cycle team and LJ friends. We all have the ability to either Ignore those in need or Help those we can. We may not be able to help everyone in the world, but we can all cause miracles in small ways.

Current Location: Home
Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Hips Don't Lie by Shakira and Annoying Wyclef Jean

The Day started off at 7am, I was awake before the alarm went off. I heard mom on the kitchen clanging pots and pans around. Mikey was out like a light, and I went to get dressed and print out directions to City Cycles. Day Zero is at the Cow Palace from 8am to 4pm, I didn’t know what to expect so I wanted to get there at noon. I have heard that checking in can be as fast as 1 ½ hours or as long as 3 hours. Mom was downstairs making Pancit Palabok, my favorite with all the fix’ins. After a hearty breakfast we all packed up the car and headed for SF. The traffic wasn’t bad till we hit the Bay Bridge. (Big Surprise)

As we made our way through town trying to find City Cycles, as luck would have it the main road it was on was shut down for a street fair. So we drove around till we found a parking spot near the street to the store and our luck changed. The last barricaded street was the street we needed, and there was parking right across the street. We all piled out of the car and went in to one of my new favorite Toy store. City Cycles had everything I wanted, I was looking for a basic pair of Castelli shorts($85). Castelli makes great cycle clothing, but is really on the higher end pricing. So as I’m looking at the shorts I realize that the store doesn’t carry the basic shorts. City Cycle only carries the Advance racing shorts ($129) I wasn’t about to ask my sister to buy me that. I went straight for the sales rack. The sales rack didn’t have anything for me, cycling clothes are very unforgiving. You can’t squeeze into a smaller size because you’ll look like 10 lbs of meat in a 3 lbs bag, you can’t buy a larger size because you risk the chance of it slipping or sliding off. The main reason for the different price in shorts is the material and the padding. So the staff seeing I was in such a need started to help me find some things. The staff at City Cycles found me a pair of Castelli shorts for $85 bucks; it was the City Cycle team gear. The best thing was it was the right price, it was a great design, and it was blue that matched the Castelli Jersey I bought myself for my birthday, and on top of that it was a the racing shorts. My sister and brother –in-law saw the look on my face and told me that I could get more things, and it would be okay. After to stuffed my urge to breakdown into tears, I went to get a few more thing I really needed. I haven’t been able to buy much so I went to the sale bin and picked up cycling socks 2 more pairs at $7ea. The sales staff ran down the gear checklist off the top of their heads. “Gloves?” I told her that I lost mine a few weeks ago and don’t really need them. “She looked me dead in the eyes and said, “Your going to need them.” So she looked for a pair for $20 bucks. She looked me in the eyes again and said, “I been cycling for years, you Will need them.” And after we started to check out my sister paid for the whole lot. I thought I was gonna cry on the spot, the cashier asked, “Do you know how to get to Cow Palace?” I had an idea where it’s located; I figure there would be signs. With everything said and done, I got gear and directions to get to Cow Palace. City Cycles Rocks! Gear count: 4 jerseys, 4 shorts, 3 socks, and gloves.

After a short drive, we found Cow Palace, as we drive up there was people cheering us through the parking lot. I felt a great welcome, I felt like a hero of sorts. I really don’t think what I am doing is special for a long time, but I felt good about myself in that split second. I repacked my new gear, unloaded the bike. I told my family I would call them when I was done with orientation. Orientation was really fast; I had achieved my minimum participant goal and returned my medical form. The only thing I had to do was
Check-in for my bike tag “6580”, watch the “Safety” video and be assigned a tent mate. Everything took about 1 1/2 hours. Let me tell you it was a variable meat market. No Pun intended considering it was at Cow Palace. I was looking around and I swore up and down my neck was going to snap off. After I had completed my duties I had one last stop at the ALC store. I managed to reach the $3500 incentive, but not my last Major sponsor never made a pledge to put me at $5000 for my Jersey Incentive. I went to the store and picked up my hard earned Fleece Vest. I did have spending money in case of bike trouble, when I saw the ALC 5 Jersey. It was affordable and it was gonna be the one souvenir I wanted to buy. I called my sister to pick me up and I was a beyond excited. The “thought” wasn’t gonna sink in till I was on a bike tomorrow. I got check-in to my motel and off we went to SF.

Gear Count: 5 Jerseys 4 Shorts 3 Socks and Gloves.

Through out the Day my family and I went down to Fisherman’s Wharf and did the touristy things, took pictures, window-shopped and had Clam Chowder in a Bread bowl. All in all a great afternoon with my family, but it was time to get some rest. Back to South SF to get a full night of sleep, as we pulled up to the Motel I felt sad. Sad because it was time to say good-bye. Being alone has never been a problem for me usually, but I doubt myself in times where I go through the unknown. I doubt my abilities, did I plan enough, did I research enough, and did I train enough? I don’t fear the upcoming 7 days, I fear that there will be nobody to help pick me up if I fall. As I said my good-byes and hugged everyone, Mike said the best thing.

“Be Safe, Hydrate, and No Hot-Dogging. (Watch my Downhill speed)

I replied the usual way, like a chastised kid.

“I….will……” sigh and eye roll up.

That was enough for me to get me back to excitement mode. I started to prep for my Day 1. I called for a 4am wake up call and laid out my gear on the bed ready to wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed. Of course I ended up staying up the rest of the night, because I was so excited.
The last time I looked at my watch it was 1:23.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: Sombra De Ti by Shakira

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Current Mood: amused
Current Music: What About Love by Heart

Aids Life Cycle 5
Rider# 6580
By Othello Cuenca

Friday June 2, 2005

Plan A: Drive to Elk Grove and visit me sister and brother-in-law.

After a 6-hour drive, Mom, Mike and I arrived in Elk Grove CA. Mike had been in flashback mode all morning, he had grown up in northern California from Sacramento to Elks Grove to Manteca to San Luis Obispo. He was telling me about bits of his childhood, that he never brought up before. It was really surprising he told me about his childhood, it was amazing to hear about that grey area of his life.

My sister was working till 3 and we arrived at 2pm, there just happened to be a Target off the exit ramp so my Mom and I both got the Target itch. Picked up a few odds and ends, most importantly a travel size of Aloe Vera after sun lotion. Mike finally pried mom and I away from the store my sister met up with us. We followed her to there new home. It was amazing 2 story home, 3 bedroom 2 ½ bath, with a big backyard and a loft. After the grand tour the Château we started to unload my gear for Day Zero. We waited for my brother-in-law to get done with work and off we went to go Shopping. (The “Other” Asian Sport).

For my birthday the week before I asked my family to buy me cycle clothing. As in any sport, equipment is expensive. Cycle clothing is very important not for fashion statements, but for the comfort of the ride. I asked my sister to buy me a cycle jersey because I couldn’t afford to buy them. So off we went to Sports Authority and again couldn’t find anything in my size, being a stocky guy, everything I bought was a XL. We stopped at a Big5 and found a large Pearl Izumi jersey for me and I asked my mom to buy it for me. I felt sad that I couldn’t afford it and had to ask for here to buy it for me, it’s still hard to swallow my pride. I wanted a specific pair of shorts from Castelli. For Day Zero, before I checked in my gear I asked if we could go to City Cycles in SF. Afterwards we went to have dinner at a local sushi restaurant that was fun and very modern. It was delicious and I was stuffed full of protein.

Came home and was stuffed and packed my new jersey. My count was now 3 shorts and 4 jerseys.Then I worked on my bike "Blue" for a bit, i couldnt afford a touring seat, so i swapped my mountain bike seat for the stock seat from my road bike. Mike was upstairs updating computers and talking to my brother in law, Mom was talking to my sister and I was booking my room in south SF for a cheap hotel. Motel 6 here I come! Off to bed I went, because the drive to SF from Sacramento is 2 hours. Leaving LA very earlier this morning and as the night got later I was out like a light as soon as I got out of bed. I still can’t believe I’m doing it, this experience will change everything.

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: You Got Me by The Roots

The plan originally was to work all day Thursday and try for the red eye flight direct to Chicago. And as a Plan B fly out of orange county direct. Well I got a phone call from my friend Sean that he was in the terminal catching the 3ish flight to Chicago, so I visited him and got him some pre-flight stuff. (Bottle of water and gum) He wanted to meet up and some bondage play. Woohoo! With my luck the 4ish flight had 2 seats in First and Sean told me that if I make it on the red eye to stay with him till I could check into my hotel. Well I figure if I catch the 4ish flight I’ll only be an hour behind Sean. Needless to say that as soon as I ask my boss if I could clock out early did a delayed O’Hare flight cancelled, that meant the passengers would get shuffled to my flight I was going to standby on. Oh well, it wasn’t meant to be. So back to plan A which was to try for the two red eye flights, the 1st flight was full of standby people, I was number 89 waiting for a seat. My chances looked really bleak, the 2nd flight was delayed till 1:20am. I was number 64 on standby, I crossed my fingers and prayed. Didn’t make it either so I went to a computer station and looked at my plan B, Plan “B” was cancelled too. Life was being really cruel to me. So after looking at different routes to Chicago, I had a semi slim chance to fly to Denver then Chicago. It was going to be a big chance for me because I had only two flight to make it to Chicago, if I didn’t make the two I had no other choice to fly back to LA and call it quits. And the flight back to LA also was slim, the chance of getting stuck in Denver was high. After going to bed at 2am I woke up at 5am to catch the 6am Denver flight, I got on and got a exit row seat too, things started to look up. With a miracle in Denver, 2 seat became open and a family of 4 was in front of me, so I prayed again that they wouldn’t split up 2 this flight 2 on the next one. Again another miracle, the family didn’t split and I got one of the seats and it was the bulkhead seat, extra legroom! I was on my way to Chicago, IML here I come.

A short trip on the L and I popped up right in front of the Palmer House hotel. As I made my way though the lobby it was a sea of men. I ran into a few people from the LA contingency, checked in and made my way up to the room. My Darling wife slave_pug , and a2andy was there getting things put away. I was beyond hungry and we decided to have dinner and pick up snacks too. Andy spotted a Thai restaurant around the corner and I discovered a Barnes and Noble on one block. It was a twofer for me. The “Rice” gauge read full and I could walk around and find a book to read. After dinner we hit the drug store and got a ice chest, beers, and Gatorade. As we made our way back to our room, I made a few comments about hoping Daddy (Gene) was going to be okay. I was afraid that the cancelled flight from the previous day would cause a overbooking and a deny boarding situation. I was genuinely worried. But around 9pm he arrived and off to dinner we went. Dinner was great and to the lobby for more socializing. I was really tired from the flight and started not to feel well. The day was a blur to me all I know is that I was asleep shortly after.

Saturday morning brought the vendor booth and meeting up with friends and a Boys reception thanks to the Windy City Boys of Leather. It was a great time, a fellow member of Phoenix Boys of Leather had a friend that bought a new straight jacket , so I helped him into it. (I’m a good boy, so helpful and caring) Pug made a club announcement about Stars and Stripes and excused ourselves shortly after. The Chicago Hellfire Club cocktail reception was to follow. After a bit of socializing Daddy came in and we made more introductions and re-introductions. Saw a few people from Summer camp, David and his partner Matthew, hunky Paul with his camera. After a while I wasn’t feeling any better so I went back to the room for a nap. I need the rest, my stomach was upset with me, and I had so much gas if I was in the smoking patio there would have been a explosion. (I know TMI) I wanted to rest up for tonight, Pug honored me by asking me to Handle her at the Pup Moshing. I wanted to be refreshed as possible for her, I wouldn’t want to disappoint my wife. After all we’ve only been married for
1 ½, I want to be a good husband.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Cross My Mind by Jill Scott