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I am finally back to traveling and find myself in an airport again.
I am flying to Denver. My niece Sarah just graduated from high school, so we are having a family reunion of sorts to celebrate. My Aunt Marla will be there as well as my grandmother and her husband.
My friend Kev dropped me off at airport. I picked him up last month, so we are on an even exchange program. He is also staying at my house and watching Kitty! They have a special bond those two do, and if I am not careful, he might snatch her away from me. Kitty! is very snuggly with me, and Kev is about the only person I have seen her otherwise get all cuddly with. Kev has more patience and is willing to put up with her rabidity on her walks, so she knows she's gonna get special treatment when he is around.
I am sitting in the food court at the airport. My flight is an hour delayed because the airport in Denver shut down for some afternoon thunderstorms. Typical summer weather for Colorado.
I ordered a California Cobb salad from McDonalds. Trying to be good. Remind me not to order salads at McDonald's. Yick. I may have to go back for an apple pie to compensate for the unsatisfactory greens. How can you fuck up a salad?
Things have been moving along on the house. Mark and Mike came over and we replaced the falling down fence. It took three days but looks amazing, and totally changes the backyard experience.
Here are a bunch of “Before” shots:
We put up a fence that is a foot higher, so I really feel secluded. The house sits up on a corner of hill and I really have only one neighbor on my left. The rest of the homes around me are down “below” so the house feels like it is sitting up in the trees, and really all I see is the one neighbor and the “mountain” to the west.
Here are some "Construction" shots:
The weather has finally got amazing too. It's May Gray and June Gloom time. The ocean layer comes in and keeps most of the day pretty grey with fog-like conditions. Though I live pretty far up from the ocean, so for the most part it's bright and sunny at my house, but as I drive down into work, the weather suddenly turns all foggy. I must be right on the fog line, cause I don't go but a mile when I hit it. It's a good feeling when the sun is shining on only your little part of the world.
You can really see how foggy it gets in the Construction shots.
And here are a bunch of "After" shots:
Mark did an amazing job on the fence. It is rock solid! The fence was done overlapped, so it is total privacy, and it doesn't look like very other fence out there. It totally changes the whole backyard experience. The view now is only the mountain and all the treetops around me. Its like I am in my own little world!
The front yard got a little treatment too. There is a space for the garbage cans and the new gate is hidden.
The plants out front are coming in nicely. Lots of hummingbirds and bees stopping by for a mid-day snack.
Work is going fine. Been working on getting new videos together for my own site, and I have been trying to really add a lot more content to the site. Last month I added 10 models! That number seems insane compared to the one model a month I used to do. Remember when I would have TWO models a month! Whoopidy Do!
The break from the journal hasn't helped the tendonitis in my arm much. Doctor wouldn't give me a cortisone shot, but did give me a prescription for Lodine. It has zero effect but does make me nice and sleepy through out the day. ~yaaawn~
He did refer me to a rehab clinic. I've been swamped with work, and I never really know what my schedule is, so I am finding it hard to make an appointment that I can keep.
Fletch in the office is big on acupuncture, and I have tried it before. He keeps dropping hints that I should see his acupuncturist. I think I will give it a try. May as well attack it from all angles.
It is ridiculously bad too. Can't hold a soda can up or even a damp towel. It's funny, I see so many people with the armbands braced around their elbow zones. It feels like a virus almost, and everyone is catching it.
So I figure may as well get goin on the journal. Time off hasn't helped, so may as well tackle some updates!
I am reworking my bryanockert.com site. It will be more Showcase Showdown. Kind of “the best of the best”.
This means I have been going through hundreds of photoshoots, thousands of photos, trying to find the one or two perfect images that are more artistic and cool than porny.
I want to make the site more appealing to potential models who I might meet “on the street”.
Ben, who is a personal trainer at my gym, has landed me a couple models. He really likes searching for the guys, and the extra money doesn't hurt either. He has a good eye, and a good style when talking to potential models.
Jared is one model that came in from Ben and did some shooting. He didn't do nudes, but I am hopeful he will come back.
I met Buck at Hamburger Mary's one night. He bartends at a couple of the gay bars here, and he really works the gay crowd. His images are quite nice, and I was pleased with the lighting.
I'm going to be calling a halt to photo and video production for a couple weeks. Next Wednesday, June 8th, Mark is going to get started on converting my garage in to a more proper studio. It's not gonna be super nice, but hopefully will no longer be so tacky that I am embarrassed to have models show up.
All the materials have been ordered and will be delivered that day. Mark thinks it will take two weeks, but I will double that estimate in my mind so I don't get itchy when we go over the projected finish date.
It's not a huge project. The goal is to get a ceiling in, further insolate the wall space, get drywall up, add some electrical outlets, get an air-condition duct to it, and make the washer dryer space more classy looking with cabinets, countertops and lighting.
Once completed, I plan on really turning up the volume on my own image and video productions. I have been “coasting” lately off all the images I took while in Austin, and am running low. So the studio getting finished by July would really be a nick of time event. I did manage to get Brad (one of June's Bio4ms) to do a video, so new content for the Theatre is happening.
Hard to find guys here. So much Adult industry here that most hot looking people have been approached at least two or three times. Ben has been searching real hard, and I am still getting an occasional submission from online viewers and my friends.
I've been hanging around Ben a lot lately. He has had friends and family in the last couple weekends, so I have been joining them and actually doing some social things. Eating out a lot and exploring more of San Diego.
FRIDAY, JUNE 3.
I am at my hotel. I got in pretty late. Picked up my car rental at Hertz. It is a Ford Eclipse. Nice, but doesn't have much power.
Rolled into the Best Western around 2:15am. My room is nice, by Best Western standards. There is both high speed wireless and wired service.Yippy!
Why are all the beds so hard in these places? And the tacky polyester bedspreads, geeez. You would think there would be a market for nice comforters. Perhaps there is a bedspread mafia that keeps the market exclusive.
SATURDAY, JUNE 4
I slept in till 8am. My dad called to wake me up to make sure I made out to their house for breakfast.
It's cold and rainy. I hope the weather isn't like this all weekend.
Everyone arrived before me. My gramma, her husband, Paul, my Aunt Marla and her boyfriend Jim where all there.
My mom has planned out all the meals, and honestly she is going to wear herself out. She's been planning this visit for weeks, and the menu is quite extensive. We had an amazing breakfast, followed by an amazing lunch. It was like having a holiday dinner, complete with the baked ham.
The fancy dinner was a celebration of Sarah's graduation from high school. Sarah had some communication problems or a spell of forgetfulness, and “accidently” took a shift at the restaurant she works at. She got into a bit of trouble with her parents and my dad also gave her some grief for missing her own party.
It's funny cuz our family has such a strong work ethic. You can hardly blame her for taking on extra work and also not wanting to miss any scheduled work. So tempers flared for a bit, but Sarah showed up during dessert, and smoothed things over like a pro.
After eating all this food, I knew that I was going to have to hit the Castle Rock Rec Center. Marla's boyfriend Jim is my age. He is American Indian, and has an amazing body. He too was feeling the calories stack up, so we went over to the Rec center together the next day.
We only had a little over an hour to workout, but it felt good to get some cardio in after eating and doing nothing for a couple days.
After the workout we all met up again at the Park Meadows Mall area to see a movie. We saw the Longest Yard. I had mixed feelings about the movie. I struggled with the stereotypes, language, and teenage boy humor, but tried to “let it go” and enjoy it. The acting was not stellar, but a lot of the actors were real live wrestlers or football stars- not known for their acting prowess. But they all filled the bill.
By the end of the movie I was enjoying it. Burt Reynolds really needs to have his plastic surgery reduced, or at least release the bungie cord that is holding his face so taut.
Not my favorite movie, but good update to the old movie.
SUNDAY, JUNE 5
Hannah's birfaday was on Sunday, and we drove down to Colorado Springs to have a pizza party. No one cried or threw up so it was a stellar success!
My sister's house is so amazing. Makes me feel like I am living in the ghetto. She had it all setup for all the guests, and the party went smooth.
Sarah didn't make it to her sister's birfaday- she had to work, so after the dinner, we went over to her restaurant to say hi and goodbye.
I adore Hannah, but Sarah and I have a special bond. Our family tells us we both think “Out of the Box” I guess meaning we are more creative, but I don't think my family gives themselves enough credit for their creative energies. We all tend to excel on many varied fronts…Sarah and I just are a little more “out there”
MONDAY, JUNE 5
Flight back from Colorado was a breeze. Hard to believe flying was ever an issue. Back to work!
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8
Mark showed up today to start working on converting the garage over. Already ran over budget with some fancier cabinets. Oh well!
Mark is pretty amazing. He just “sees” everything, and knows how it will all fit together. He's really good at handling issues as they come up…problem solving the weird things that the original builders did.
Very excited to finally have a studio in the works!
Will update you more in the next entry.
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
Went over to the launch party for the new Rocket Magazine (Rocket is really hard to type out when your last name is Ockert!)
I didn't think the party was going to be as big as it was! There must have been 300 people at this party!
I have my images in and on the cover of their second issue, so their were magazines all over the place with my image of Andy and ice cream.
I also had the cover of the Gay and Lesbian Times, so I am breaking a bit into the local publication scene.
I didn't stay long cuz I didn't know anyone and couldn't find Sloan who I had been working with from the magazine.
Mark and Mike were having a movie night, so I left and watched the South Park produced movie “Team America”
FRIDAY, JUNE 10
I decided to go and watch Star Wars again. Both times I have gone alone. I really just didn't want anyone around me poo pooing the movie. I love this new release, and Lucas did an amazing job. I do think it is the best of all the movies, though I think the original will always hold a happy spot in heart.
SUNDAY- JUNE 12 - B-DAY.
Well, it's my Birfaday. The big four zero. Oh boy!
I had planned on doing a party, but with the trip back to Colorado and having construction at the house, I didn't really plan on anything.
At the last minute I invited a few friends over the Hamburger Mary's for drinks. I mean, you gotta do SOMETHING on your 40th, right?
But first I had to get myself a Birfaday present!
Kev and I went over to Fry's and I got myself a new camera. I have been thinking that I haven't been taking a lot of pictures cuz I am not excited by my old camera.
I got a new Canon SD400. It is so much faster and improved over the old S330. The ole S330 was a 2 megapixel light weight which is now considered bulky and heavy. But it was a trooper! I ran it over with my mom's car and it still works. The LCD is a little messed up, but it still takes pictures.
But it's slow, and it takes forever to turn on and to snap a picture. One thing about Canon cameras, they do take perfect images, but it can take like 3 seconds for it to do its math to determine the best lighting.
The new one corrects this, moves quickly, and has a much bigger screen (Though the Sony's sure had some amazing lcd screens on their new cameras!) and is more idiot proof for when you hand the camera to a stranger to take your picture.
So I had a new camera for the bar event!
Mary's is a lot of fun on Sunday. The atmosphere is very relaxed and not real cruisey. The drinks flow, and usually the crowd is pretty cocktailed.
I arrived a little late to find Chris and Kattie with drinks on hand. Actually Kattie was taking it a little easy as she had partied pretty hard already that weekend, and even had an interesting lascivious story about a one-armed man she knows.
Very glad to see the both of them. Between those two and Ryan, they are instant party.
Ben is on the left, and Kev is on my right. Ben is a personal trainer and doing the model scouting that I mentioned at the beginning of the entry. Kev is Kitty!'s dog nanny, and is staying with me over the next couple weeks while he waits for his new living situation to solidify.
Fletch and his boyfriend Darryl. Fletch (Right) is the guy from Austin that I have known for years. He's the one that had told me about the acupuncturist. I totally dig Fletch. He's got great energy. I don't know Darryl very well. He seems shy, but one of those people that once you break through, that he would be very interesting to talk with.
Mike and Mark. Remember Mike and his dog sleeper? Mike and Mark did the fence and Mark is doing the construction on the studio/garage. Mike just had a Birfaday as well.
Dale, who I didn't get a picture of...rats...brought me a really cool "bouquet" geared just for me. I have recently got addicted to the low-carb energy drinks. By 9am I am pretty wired, and I always have a protein bar for breakfast. It is such a perfect gift for me. People complain I am hard to buy for cuz I tend to just buy what I want ahead of time, and I realize how hard it is, so the extra thought and effort is totally appreciated. Thanks Dale!
The highlight of the evening was Chris attempt to steal away Ryan's 'fag hag'
While Ryan was in the bathroom, Chris lured Angelina up on his lap.
Upon his return, Ryan was not pleased to see Chris and Angelina too chummy. The battle for the hag began!
We stayed until 7pm. Chris and Ryan were both getting pretty lit. I felt a little guilty leaving early, but I knew I had to get this journal entry, and tomorrow morning is my first day of physical therapy!
Thanks to everyone who sent out Birfaday greetings! See ya soon!
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