Little Gay Happenings

Last week I had myself a small gay trip with one of my gay besties JK down south in Brighton. We had become acquainted through Jack'd over the last summer and considering he was headed home for Malaysia soon and I'd be stuck here till September or so, I probably wouldn't be seeing him again for over a year as by the time I would leave UK for good he'd be returning for his following year to continue his degree. As such it would do us both good to have a nice little gay bonding time.

So it came to no surprise that we chose Brighton, the supposed gay capital of Europe. For a change the sun was up in UK (bloody shocker I know) and the beaches were thriving with a ton of barely clothed (sometimes unclothed) people having some fun in the sun. Hell the entire city was full of shirtless people just casually walking around basking in the sun. Not me though, I'm still on the shyer side with toplessness, shall probably need a couple more months of intensive work out regiments and I shall be good to go. Relatively comfortable with my body where play in bed is concerned though heh. JK on the other hand was pretty gym fit so I wouldn't be surprised if he were dying to tear off that shirt of his half the time.

We booked ourselves a backpackers dorm crammed with 15 other people. It looked like a morgue but we were having ourselves a fabulous holiday as opposed to a posh one after all.

Hide the bodies

Suffice to say, it was an interesting laid back town that we could just chill and lay back in whilst checking all the hot bods around. I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Westerners but JK was quite the massive potato queen so I guess he had himself eye candy by the truckloads. And yes that's why we aren't dating despite being pretty close friends. He likes his men blonde and blue eyed, older, rugged and pretty meaty. I think I'm just a tad bit leaning on the pretty boy side. No surprise I get myself a proper 9 foot hole in the friend zone cemetery then heh.

They had this interesting pier that stretched out into the sea with a fun fair at the very end. We got conned into eating the shitty pricey versions of the Fish and Chips we so desperately craved although we had ourselves multiple grand meals thereafter to compensate for that.

 So this must be where Melbourne got its inspiration from

This restaurant is modeled after a classical opera house

 Tourist adventures take you through a maze of small little lanes where you can find all sorts of curios and food outlets in unique hidden settings.

By now everyone is probably wondering where are all the pictures of the hot guys all over the beach are. It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that no such pictures are available as my traveling buddy decided to capture pictures of that variety instead.

Of course we had to try the night scene in the supposed Gay capital as well. First night proved to be a massive disappointment because apparently everything is dead on Wednesdays. The second night had JK calling his Brighton friend to show us around though and it turned out the friend was a legal lecturer at Manchester Uni once. Things got a tad awkward when I found out he was friends with my many educators back in the good old undergraduate days. Bugger me senseless, imagine dancing in clubs with your professors. That has to be next level unprofessional conduct right there!

Suffice to say, I'm always happy to receive free drinks till I sway a tad and start intimately dancing with random lesbians. There was a foam party going on at the club I was in and I never realised how irritating or disgusting foam could be to be honest. It's all sticky and soapy and unless all the hot boys start stripping and grinding their soapy bodies against each other (and me) it ain't exactly a fun experience to have detergent shot at your face continuously from an air cannon. I'm such a fussy bitch aren't I?

Covered lightly in foam before the next wave

Suffice to say I had a great deal of fun partying and traveling with JK. Reminds me of our first party at Marketplace back in August 2012. I reckon I'll miss him when he leaves and whilst we might not be lovers I've grown to appreciate proper platonic gay friendships that matter.

Upon returning to London, I had my last few meet ups with JY (Singaporean from last post). It was kind of sad that he was leaving for the summer and we would not see each other again for the longest time as once again by the time he'd be back, I'd have left this city for good. So we had a nice slow night with dinner and drinks, basking in the city lights. We met his friends (and some guy competing with me for him) and proceeded for a final party before he left for good. Can I just say this world is too damn small and his friends are people whom are friends or exes of people I'm kind of close to? Jesus, this circle.

That last night, we took a bus ride home after the party. He had a flight come the dawn and this was us saying our final farewells. He had a book launch back in Singapore soon, it contained poems relating to his sexuality, his parents were sure to question him. He mentioned perhaps some day I might be a part of his poetry too, stories of our brief summer in London. Maybe I'll send him poetry of my own too, let a professional objectively critique my work. I walked him to his doorstep, we hugged and I was just about to leave when I turned.

And landed a soft kiss to his lips. It was soft, tender and sweet unlike my usual lusty trysts or fickle flames. We parted, and then he was gone. The kiss lingered, and before long I was home with a smile. Parting ever was bittersweet. Maybe some day I'll see you again.

The Best Friend

We've all had that one straight best friend whom we once had quite the crush over as we were growing up. They'd be the untouchable fantasy, the forbidden fruit that we never could wrap our lips around. And we'd love them more for it somehow, I reckon due to them liking us and caring for us without any ulterior motive whatsoever. There's just a certain chivalry that makes one go fan girl for a caring straight friend that we can relate with. And then you grow up and you realise fantasy is all that will ever be, but friendships that matter will hopefully last forever.

I remember being smitten over my best friend once when we were young and in High School. Given that I had thought I was mostly straight the new flood of emotions proved rather confusing for me. I'd always been into women with some slight curiousity for men by the side when I was younger so the new passionate pangs of attraction proved to be rather...curious. And yes I remember being a tad touchy feely and "manja-ish" which may have even made him a touch uncomfortable back then.

Fast forward to the future, years down the road he's still my best friend but our relationship has evolved. He has a girl now, the love of his life that I have to share him with. I no longer like him in that way, but I still love him like the brother I never had. He knows all about me now, and my preferences for both genders and he doesn't judge. Of that I truly am proud. Proud to have a straight bestie that jokingly flirts with me in the most bromantic of fashions, that puts up with my rants and sighs about the boys in my life, that comforts me when I am facing heart break and continues to balance me in his competing schedules with life and his girl friend. For that I truly am blessed I reckon.

The other day whilst talking to his girl I referred to the bestie as our boyfriend and she chuckled. Heh, how times have changed. Even his mother refers to me as her son's original girlfriend. So tell me then, do you lot have similar bromances in your lives? I know I've found mine, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks bruv, love you.

PS: It's snowing again. <3

Rape

The call came in at 7 in the morning just as I was finally going to get myself some shut eye. I knew I couldn't deny a friend in need, not now after all I'd come to know. He came in weary, tired, deflated. The spirit had dimmed in his eyes. And then he relayed his story. His shame. His guilt.

Rape against women is a subject that has been extensively studied and the female victim often receives extensive support from society at large and their family and friends. But male victims are often hushed up, silenced and relegated to the sidelines. They bear their burdens in abject silence, and fear, alone and sullen.

Here was a friend who bore the marks, whom had suffered greatly. It has been a month since the attack, and his confidence, self esteem and worth had been utterly shattered. I consoled as best I could, I learned of the near suicidal attempts to jump into the River Thames and I could only imagine the horrors and trepidations of the victim. Imagine, but never fully comprehend.

Rape fantasies are one thing, but at least I always knew I still had control. In the brief periods in my bedsheet trysts whenever I thought a man would not stop, I'd always have a brief flicker of fear but it would always calm down when they backed down and everything would relegate to good simple fun. Not my friend though, no. Held down against his will, drunk and bewildered by a stronger conscious man he could only submit. There was very nearly chloroform involved in the attempt and he could only pray he would come out in one piece alive by the night's end. His saving grace was that the bareback entry had not ended in a climax, and he had quietly snuck out when the bastard fell asleep.

This is a precautionary tale, of why you do not leave your friends alone at the club or bar especially after a night out when everyone is pissed drunk. Its a shame really that the westerners don't take greater care of their friends in times like these. And it alarms me that the rapist was an East Asian man whom perpetrated this violent sexual assault, bareback if I might add, on my white friend. It shows that the face of evil know no bounds and could be anyone.

I tried encouraging him to make his police report, to prosecute the monster in court. But the things we learn about the victims in criminal classes just rung true. The fear, the fatigue, the intimidation of facing the attacker once more. All of this stood to silence the victims into quiet submission. How tragic. But if I could inspire in him one thing, from all these events, it would be to press formal charges and put this monster behind bars and realise that he has played his part in saving others from becoming victims in the future and would restore at least some self worth once more.

No time for petty love triangles at this time, right now I have a friend in need.

Living the New Years

Had myself a short hiatus as I was over in the Netherlands and some other Euro countries for abit. What happens in Amsterdam stays in Amsterdam as they say. I must say I was relatively well behaved over there which is quite the contrary of what people go to Sin City for. Oh well. I came out to my other close friend throughout the trip because I grew tired of whispering with the other travel buddy about boys and just decided to fuck it. If close friends still mind after all these years of knowing me they don't deserve to be friends of mine. So yea, I was just glad they were so accepting and I could just be open about meeting boys over Jack'd whilst on travels without coming up with creative excuses.

New Years was a bit of a nightmare because we had all gone to see fireworks by the London Eye. An old primary school classmate joined us this time around and she asked me a few times if I was slightly bent. Am I getting more obvious with age? She has hinted some liking for me otherwise, even shared the same bed on the last night although nothing happened. That'd be a barrel of controversy if people knew heh.

Oh yes New Years was supposed to be fireworks then dragging my straight friends for a round of gay clubbing in London because they are open enough for that. Unfortunately the promoters at Heaven were slightly hostile that night and gave the gays a bad name in my friend's eyes. Asked me to fuck off it seems. Maybe cause I was with girls? Well fuck you too. Clubs were all full anyway since we were being retarded pre drinking till pretty late at my crib.

And yes hell broke lose after the fireworks when everyone began pushing and shoving to go home. My female friend nearly got attacked by some assholes in the crowd and I had to hug her tight as we waded a wall of human traffic. A couple of dicks wanted to start a fight with me too but fortunately I managed to evade conflict there. Wouldn't want to bring the Bar into disrepute now even though fighting legal providers would be awesome.

Jumping ahead of time for abit, had myself some exams yesterday before heading out to celebrate a birthday party with some colleagues. Was walking back around Chinatown when we took a bend around this gay bar there to get on the trains home. And I just had to bump into some gay friends, bugger me. Thought my friend was going to kiss me there in public with my colleagues there so I gave a very direct stare and he nodded before just giving me a hand shake. Think my fellow lawyers noticed my immediate tension since I was shaking hands with random boys outside a famous gay bar. Shit. But I had legit worries since this fellow had a tendency to give me random kisses all the damn time anyway.

So after splitting with my straight mates I naturally returned to the gay bar and apologized for my slight awkwardness. Next thing I know I'm at Heaven again and bumping into some Korean guy I used to go on date movies with. And yes everything thereafter becomes abit of a blur as the alcohol worked its way into my system. Go imagine what happens.

Finally a toast to 2012, one of the best and worst years of my life. The year I grew in influence, the year I graduated, the year I found love, the year I entered professional training, the year I became a political activist, the year I had my heart broken, and the year I found myself. Wherever you are now my first love, I wish you all the best.