HYPOTHETICAL SITUATION #45:

Suppose your boss came up to you at work one day & said that there is a position open with a higher salary, but more scrutiny and the position itself is not viewed favorably by upper management – and might possibly be dissolved in a few yea.

However, your boss also mentions tgat another position *might* be opening up later down the road.

That job, while probably not as prestigious, sounds more like a career path that you might be interested in pursuing. 

What would you do? 

• Apply for the confirmed position with higher pay?  
• Or stay at your current job & wait for the other position to possibly open up?  

You cannot apply for both.

This is what I had to think over the past couple of days. 

GAY MOVIE REVIEW: Stranger by the Lake

Jeff & I had a ‘date night’ this past weekend & opted for a movie. There was a really sexy-sounding one playing at the Laemmle in Pasadena, so we saw that one: 

Stranger by the Lake

PLOT: This French film takes place in the summer at a nude cruising spot for men, tucked away on the shores of a lake. Franck falls in love with Michel. But one evening, after wandering around a little too late, Franck spots Michel holding a ‘trick’ underwater, drowning him in the lake.  Despite this, Franck continues to see Michel.  Their relationship becomes strained when the trick’s body is found a few days later & the police start questioning them both about what they know.

REVIEW:  First of all, I think I should mention that there’s a lot of full-frontal male nudity in this movie; it’s set at a nude beach, after all. There’s also several (hot) sex scenes & all that, so it pretty much delivers in that area. Both Jeff & I thought it was done extremely well, but couldn’t figure out the ‘point’ of the movie until the next day. At first we assumed it was a ‘cautionary tale’ of the dangers of anonymous sex but that doesn’t hold a lot of water because Franck *does* know who Michel is and stays with him anyway. Later, Jeff told me that the way it ends (Franck, hiding from a murderous Michel, finally comes out of hiding & starts calling for him – FADE TO BLACK) tells him that “Franck is so afraid of loneliness that he would rather call out to ‘his killer’ than be alone” which coincides better with some of the other character’s storylines in the movie (there is a an older guy that Franck befriends who doesn’t swim or sleep around in the film; he just sits there watching everyone else, probably because he’s looking for a friend more than sex).

On the downside, the film also has no soundtrack, making it a bit boring. And the ending is a little abrupt, which left us wanting more of a resolution. But otherwise I found this an interesting, yet subtle, film to watch. 

Here’s the trailer!  

GAY MOVIE REVIEW - Beyond the Walls

Had a few hours to kill (over the past week), so I figured I would watch a movie.  This one had some sexy-looking actors looked interesting (and I remember seeing it on the Outfest line-up last year), so…..!

Beyond The Walls 

PLOT: The French film follows Paulo, a young pianist, who meets Ilir, a double-bass player originally from Albania. It's love at first sight. Paulo is soon confronted by his girlfriend, Anka, & finds himself out on the street. Paulo moves in with Ilir, despite his misgivings. One day, when Paulo promises that he will love Ilir for the rest of his life, Ilir leaves the city and doesn't return. A few days later, Paulo finds out that Ilir is in jail, and the two lovers embark on an heart-breaking relationship.

REVIEW:  Considering that the crux of the movie is how Paulo & Ilir react to their ‘long-distance’ relationship, the first hour of this movie seems almost unnecessary. But I’m guessing that the director included it to show fragile & co-dependent their relationship (or Paulo) is. In fact, the movie doesn’t really tell us a lot about Ilir; it focuses more on Paulo & how he handles the role-reversal of having to provide & protect Ilir (with money & other things he can use for trade) in prison. In the end, Paulo finds a new provider and runs into (a weaker, more needy) Ilir once more. But Ilir’s attempts to reconnect fall short & Paulo leaves him behind after he (Ilir) fails to get back what they once had.

The ending of Paulo & Ilir’s relationship makes Paulo seem rather cruel & almost a leech who sucked Ilir dry, leaving him when he couldn’t provide anymore. Anyway, here is the trailer: 

 

Pictures as promised!

So here are the pictures of our trip to Solvang, CA as promised (even if they are a little late)!  Jeff and I had an amazing time up there, so I highly recommend you check it out if you get the chance - especially if you love wine!  

We stayed at a little place called the Wine Valley Inn & Cottages - a beautiful little place that looks like it came right out of "Once Upon a Time."  

There was even a clock tower!  

 F&^%king beautiful, amIrite?  

While we were there, we went to several wine tastings and checked out a few of the local tourist traps attractions such as the Pony farm......  

Look!  It's where they make "Lil Sebastians"!  

 ....and the Ostrich farm!  

Mean lil S.O.B.s these Ostriches....! 

On the drive back, we stopped off to see Jeff's cousin, who goes to school at UCSB.  He showed us around the college campus & a couple of the sights like the Laguna Labyrinth!  

Here's some more pics of me:  

And this big dork right here.....!  

So it's come to this....!

It's beginning to look like I can no longer blog from the office because of how busy (& stressful) my work has become.....!  

So I'm writing this post on a Saturday to break one of my cardinal blogging rules:  I'm gong to tell you how frustrating and seemingly pointless I find my job.   

For some reason, the workload has just been pouring in, non-stop, for the past four months and shows no signs of slowing down.  I am up to my ears in work and am barely staying on top of things thanks to some late hours and continuous help from the rest of my department - especially my boss.  

It's getting to the point where I'm seriously considering quitting despite all the 'well-laid plans' the company has for me to succeed my boss when she retires.  I just don't know if I can take it for much longer.  I know I'm not the only one - everyone who works on my floor seems stressed and cranky all the time.  

To make things worse, I am not even sure if my job will be around for much longer.  My department has managed to avoid company lay-offs for a while, but I think our time might be coming soon.....so why the hell am I working so hard?  

Jeff's been amazingly supportive throughout all my 'coming-home-from-work' bad moods and 'bitchings about work' and thinks I'm due for a change.....

....but I dunno if I can bring myself to abandon everyone at work.  Everyone there is stretched thin enough as it is.  

Also - I haven't had to look for a new job in *years*; sheer luck landed me the one I have now and my job skills are pretty darn "specific"; database management for a system most people haven't heard of isn't exactly a hot commodity right now....!  

But it doesn't hurt to see what my options are. They say the best time to look for a job is while you still have one, so that's what I'm doing.  

In the meantime, Jeff & I are taking a quick vacation this three-day-weekend (MLK Jr, I could kiss you!) to a Bed & Breakfast up in Solvang (wherever that is) to celebrate our three-month anniversary.  (Telling you, I don't deserve that guy - xoxo)  I'll have to find time to write a post about it next week sometime.  

Now where did I leave my resume?  

Happy 2014!

Happy New Year, everyone!  (Yeah, I know.  I thought I gave up blogging, too)

But as I'm sitting here, eating a mish-mash of coked veggies and tofu before they all go bad (while, according to Facebook, my boyfriend is eating pizza somewhere without me), I figured I should do something "productive".  

And writing in this blog was the best I came up with!  

So I guess Life updates are the first order of business.....I journeyed home for Christmas and New Years again this year; a total of two weeks of vacation & quality time with my mom and brother.  Got to see all the renovations that mom did to the house and the new car my brother bought......and watched a lot of TV! 

Soooo...much....TV.  

Now I should explain that the majority of my "couch potato" ness was due to my mom coming down with the flu and me feeding her tea and making sure she got a lot of rest.  

But I still managed to find time to get out of the house and catch up with all my friends from high school.  I felt more nostalgic than usual this year....probably has something to do with being in my thirties now.  

It finally hit me how old I am when I realized that most of the characters I watch on TV are younger than me.  

Wrapping this up now because I don't really know how to sum up the last couple of months without rambling, so I'll just say that it was a great vacation, but I'm glad to be back in Los Angeles - two weeks, no matter how great they are, is a *lot* of quality time together.  

Hopefully I'll find time to blog more often in 2014. Hope to see you around!