Post #42361 by CaseyJPS on Thu, Jul 10, 2003 12:20 AM

How did I become so boring? This link (Mahalo, Ben) is fascinating & may well be the highlight of the month!

I've been in the hospitality business for about 25 years.

Bonnie & Clyde (my "parents") were extremely colorful. They traveled the world, always seeking out the local watering holes. I decided I wanted to be in the hotel business when I was 9, and the deal was sealed on a 5-island trip to Hawaii (w/mom & dad) when I was 11.

The outer islands were still very "authentic" then and we stayed at places like the Waikikian, the Coco Palms, and the Kona Inn. (I"ve got this picture of me looking terribly geeky at the Tahitian Lanai.) I'm one of those "need to be reinforced" personalities so imagine my joy when dad gave me a buck to carry 6 billion suitcases up the stairs to our room at the Kona Inn, in order to keep me occupied (STOP LAUGHING). Still, I was really excited, and that particular "scene" was the reinforcement that sent me on my career path (honest).

In the meantime, I used to clear ocean freight shipments in SF & honed my negotiating skills by persuading shipping lines, truckers, & steevedores to do what I wanted. I spent time scraping out tile floors & driving a flatbead on carpet and linoleum pick-ups in SF, & worked countless hours on phone banks & door-to-door for candidates in the bleeding heart capital of the world (SF).

One campaign found me a the corner of Castro & Market, and I had some gay asian 20-something screaming at me "go back to your own neighborhood." I'm pretty certain I'm a gay man trapped in a straight man's body. Oh, and I can't forget my jail time in Houston and being fingerprinted in SF.

I performed as the Nutcracker the last two years with a local dance company and my favorite magazines are Popular Mechanics, Motor Trend, and Consumer Reports. My life is really quite average, but I have potential (single and available)!!

[ Edited by: [email protected] on 2003-07-10 00:46 ]