Adjusting

A conversation this weekend has helped me to think through some of the priorities in my life. As regular Auto-Gratification readers have no doubt noticed, my posts lately have been severely lacking.

This has been unavoidable, as my life lately has been rather crazy, particularly with my job in a company that is in a tailspin it is unlikely to recover from. Consequently, I am trying to balance the demands of a very full-time job with the fairly-urgent need to find a new job in a more stable situation.

As a smart friend reminded me this weekend, I need to make sure I am dedicating the maximum amount of effort possible to my occupation situation and not allow myself to use other things (such as blogging) to be used as an escape from the stress I have been under for far too long. For, when I spend my time on things less important, I ultimately only will increase my stress and delay its resolve.

So, today Auto-Gratification is going on an indefinite hiatus. Although I have every intent to return to blogging at some point, I cannot today tell you at what point that will be. I will keep the blog up, and perhaps I will be able to give an update along the way. But at this point, I don't plan to post again until my job situation has settled down and I am comfortably-settled into whatever new opportunity awaits.

Thanks to all who have been so kind in your comments and visits. I do hope that I will be back here again soon....keep checking!

Hope You've Enjoyed the Conversation Thus Far

One year ago today, on Friday, February 24, 2006, I began Auto-Gratification with a post titled "Talking To Myself." This was my third or fourth attempt at maintaining a blog (each of the others dying after a few short posts). But this one seems to be sticking. I have found that the reality of life keeps me from daily postings as I might like, but looking at my stats shows an average of slightly more than 3 posts per week, so I suppose that is adequate.

As is fairly common for new bloggers, it took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to do with the blog, so some of my early posts are rather boring. But, if the response from friends and acquaintances is any indicator, eventually things improved, and I hope I will continue to entertain or inform or slightly amuse you as the weeks go on.

For those who may not have been here the whole time, here's a few of my personal favorite posts that you might want to check out...

• Mardi Gras Origins (February 27, 2006) - My account of the year I attended the Mardi Gras celebration in the village of Binche, Belgium, where many of the traditions of the day originated.
• French Sex (April 30, 2006) - As I mention in my blog header, I am half-bilingual, so back in April, I decided to produce a brief guide de terminologie sexuelle française. Even if you don't speak any French, it is a fascinating (and sometimes amusing) look at the way Francophones express themselves in the bedroom.
• How to Help a Friend Who is Dealing with the Suicide of a Loved One (May 8, 2006) - Because of the tragedy that I have experienced and survived, I have posted a number of times over the past year on the topic of suicide. This post I wrote in the hopes of giving some practical advice in the event someone finds themselves trying to comfort a friend who is grieving the suicide of a loved one.
• Sometimes It Rains (June 28, 2006) - I occasionally write poetry in my journal, but I almost always use poetry to express things that are deeply personal, so only twice have I ever shared something I wrote in that realm publicly. This poem was written as a reminder of the value of friendship when the storms come.
• The Pink Letter (July 2, 2006) - I had probably more fun writing this post than nearly any other I have done. Being a fan of classic literature, I often am humored as I run across terms whose meanings have changed over time, a wonderful example being the word "queer." This post illustrates a number of classic literature passages in which they\ author employed that word, never realizing the new, humorous meanings their words would have decades later.
• Rice Queen, Part 1 and Part 2 (July 6-9, 2006) - Some thoughts on interracial romance in the gay community.
• My Coming-Out Story (October 11-December 10, 2006) - This ended up being a five-part series on my own personal coming-out story. I still intend to write an epilogue as I promised several I would do...perhaps that will be the post to start off my second blogging year.
• Choosing Our Battles Wisely (February 21, 2007) - My most recent post prior to this one, but something I feel very strongly about. I lived in Africa for a while and love the people there, so it saddens me to see so many critical of people who are sacrificially giving of their lives to help people they do not even know in lands far away.

Well, thanks to all who have read, commented, complimented, and even criticized me over the past year. I hope you will continue to visit my blog (and link to it!). I will try to make your visits worth the time you give to me. Cheers!

A Flattering Way to End the Year

Well, I have certainly been out of the loop with the holidays, because I just noticed today that on December 22, Best Gay Blogs, the best directory on the internet for gay blogging, wrote a long and very kind review of Auto-Gratification. Now, although I tend to be somewhat skeptical about internet accolades (any geek with a copy of Photoshop can make an internet "award"), it is gratifying to read such a kind review, since it reflects a real effort to read through my blog and "get" what I'm writing about. Plus, being featured on the premiere gay blog directory is slightly more significant than winning "Billy Bob's Sites That Give Me a Boner" award. So thanks, to Best Gay Blogs, and best wishes to all in 2007! I hope that, as I continue to pleasure myself with this blog, each of you will get turned on as I shoot a little bit your direction as well!

Enhancing my Geek Credentials

So I spent all weekend re-designing the look of my blog. I have to grudgingly admit that, in spite of their abysmal past performance, Blogger has done some very nice things in the beta version of their next blogging system release (which I am now using for this blog). I will probably continue to tweak things here and there, but I hope you like the new look. At least it will be pretty to look at if I spend all my time making cosmetic changes to the blog but am too lazy to add new content. (Note: Stay tuned shortly for part 3 of the ever-compelling saga of my coming-out story).

Today's Holidays:

• International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
  

A Plea for Patience

Depending on when you look at this blog over the next few days, it will be either obvious or painfully obvious that I am doing some major work on the layout & design of the blog. I'm trying a few ambitious things that stretch my knowledge of HTML and CSS, and sometimes Blogger's helpful interface just ends up getting in the way. Anyway, my original template is saved safe and sound, so nothing is un-fixable, but just be patient with me as I work on this in my spare time. I am hopeful that the end result will be something very sharp-looking.

Today's Holidays:

• Cliché Day (Great, we need this holiday like we need a hole in the head)
  

Shifting Gears

If you are a regular reader of this blog and happened to miss yesterday's post titled "Fresh Sheets", be sure to take a look at it! Thanks!

Fresh Sheets

I have thought about this blog considerably in recent days. Since I began my second blog early in August, this, my original blog, has sorta become the neglected stepsister. The great reception many kindly gave my other blog was good motivation for me to give it a lot of attention, to the detriment of Auto-Gratification.

But, my reason for blogging in the first place was not to build up my ego through the praise of strangers; rather, I wanted a forum in which I would be "forced" to discipline myself to be creative and to write on a regular basis. One of my major life goals is to become a published author, but the writing opportunities of my current marketing job (in which I work on the management side of the company rather than the creative side) consist primarily of responding to e-mails about problems with grocery store displays. Not particularly inspiring stuff.

Yet, as things have developed, this blog has become more of a photo collection than a space for me to write, and I find the pictures controlling the writing far too often. Additionally, it just is a very time-consuming process to come up with pictures to post regularly that are not over-used or copyrighted (the latter, of course, being almost impossible to know much of the time). Trying to do that with two blogs has stretched me far beyond the time resources I have available.

So, today I'm putting fresh sheets on this bed. From now on, I may include photos of hot guys when the occasion warrants; certainly, I will try to include something graphical each post to spice things up and keep it interesting. But the focus of this blog is going to return to its original intent: to give me a place to write and interact with others on ideas, to entertain if I am able, and hopefully to give you, my readers, a place to take a break in your day and find something worth reading.

My Asian blog fills a niche that is not found many places on the web; but pictures of guys of other ethnicities are found everywhere. If you're afraid you might miss my pictures, check out the blogs on my links list. I am hoping to update that soon, and I will try to keep it current with plenty of suggestions for you. But I hope you will find this blog to have actual content beyond the eye candy--content that, I trust, will be worth your while to read.

Come back tomorrow for the (far-too-long-delayed) second part of my already-started coming-out story! If you have not done so before, check out the first part for an example of what I hope this blog will contain on a regular basis (minus so many pictures).


Today's Holidays:

• All Saints' Day
• National Author's Day (US)
• National Family Literacy Day (US)
  

Just Like Clockwork

I should have seen it coming. All the signs were evident if I had been paying attention.

It's October. Bad things happen to me in October.

Due to unresolvable computer problems, I had to do a complete reformatting/reinstall of my computer this week, resulting in what would be a minimum of 2 days of little real work being accomplished.

The owner of my company called at the start of the week and said he would be in town later in the week and wanted to meet with me (I see him maybe once or twice a year, so these meetings are significant, plus, hey, he's the owner! Not someone to get on his bad side).

Several things happened this week in my job that generally happen maybe a couple times a year, but this week several happened all at once.

So, if I had been paying attention, I would have known that I would wake up in the middle of the week feeling like I had been hit by a truck. Yes, the annual Chicago flu bug has arrived, and I once again volunteered to be part of the official welcoming committee.

Today is about the first time I could even sit up in bed for any length of time, though I still feel like crap. But, thanks to wireless internet, I can bring my laptop here into my bedroom and still let you all enjoy pictures of hot guys.

I hope you will forgive the fact that, since I am operating on limited mental energy, there is absolutely no attempt with today's pictures to follow any theme or topic. And, for those who are readers of my other blog, OYGA, apologies for the obvious post repetition. Don't worry, though, I am sure I will be back to my typically witty and erudite self soon. Meantime, here's some guys who are hotties, regardless of the randomness.

Thanks in advance for all the kind expressions of sympathy and offers of sexual favors that I am certain many of you will give when you read this post ;-).









































Today's Holidays:

• Internet Day
• Reformation Sunday (yes, ironic they are the same day)
  

I'm Generally a Very Mild-Mannered Guy, But....

....this picture pretty much sums up my sentiments toward Blogger.com.



Actually, they don't even deserve such a cutie as that. Today is day 8 of my not being able to post to my other blog, Once You Go Asian, due to Blogger's stupid spam robots who, as I mentioned in my last post, thought it was a spam blog, and in spite of the fact that they promised to review and unlock it in less than a business day. So, you can imagine my excitement when, a short time ago, I finally received the following e-mail (click to enlarge):



Yay! My blog is unlocked! ....I say to myself. So, I do as they ask: I go to Blogger.com, sign out, sign back in, attempt to post, and (click to enlarge).....



.....I'm still locked out. I then proceeded to sign out again, shut down my computer entirely, restart, and yet it still refuses to allow me to publish! Morons.

So, I decided tonight I will share with you photos of the place where Blogger.com's support apparently keep their collective head.....

Blogger.com = Exasperation

Many of you who read this blog also are regular visitors to my other blog, Once You Go Asian. And by now, I suspect you are thinking that that blog is yet another of countless blogs that are started by some gung-ho person who puts out a flurry of posts but then burns out after his attention is diverted by the next new, cool tech-y thing that comes along. How many blogs have we all seen with 2 or 3 months of posts then one or two a month for a couple months til it finally just sputters out?

Well, please know this is not the case with Once You Go Asian!!! Rather, it seems there is a conspiracy afoot to keep me from being able to post to my other blog. It started simply enough with my vacation to Cancun a couple weeks ago. I was hoping to be able to post from Cancun, but my hotel did not have internet access, and thus I was unable to post during that trip.

When I returned from the trip, I submitted a post on Monday, September 11. However, almost immediately after submitting, I went to check something on the blog, and when I typed in the address, the following page came up instead of my blog (click to enlarge):



Somehow, someone managed to take over my site address and redirect people to their site. I don't know why they would care enough about my site to do that, but such was the case. I did not know how to fix it, but finally by Tuesday night, I had figured out a solution, and the blog was back up (but not before I received several panicked e-mails from readers who thought I had taken the blog down. I can only imagine how many people just removed my blog from their lists without asking what had happened).

All was well for Wednesday and Thursday's posts, but then on Friday, as I attempted to post, I received the following message from Blogger (click to enlarge):



Apparently, my blog is so generic and non-specialized [uh, right], that it has appeared to Blogger's spam robots to be a spam blog. Naturally, I immediately submitted the request for them to unlock the blog, trusting their promise that they would "take a look at your blog and unlock it in less than a business day." Today is now the 5th day since they locked it, and they still have not unlocked my blog or even acknowledged any of my multiple requests and e-mails. I'm about at a loss for what to do, as they don't make it at all easy to contact a real person at Blogger.

I'm tempted to move my blog to another hosting site, but I can't even publish anything on Once You Go Asian to let people know where I would be moving! So, if any of my readers happens to be a Blogger.com employee, could you PLEASE unlock my other blog?



Well, to hold over my Asian-o-phile readers until Blogger gets their act together, click below to reveal some beauties for your viewing pleasure....