Diary of Dan Frank

Oh yes we got trouble, right here in in Orange County. WIth a capitol T which sounds like C, and that stands for crush!

I guess I have developed a bit of a crush on a guy I met out here just recently. I met him today, which makes me feel a bit odd that I am already crushin on him, but I guess thats the way crushes work. Not only is this guy the first crush I have out here in California, but I can safely say he is the first guy I have crushed on in a long time.

There are, however, some problems with the situation I find myself in. You see the guy I am crushin on trained me in at work tonight. I fermly believe that you should never mix business with pleasure. Normally it's like oil and water; the two just don't mix. Sure there are certain situations where an office romance could work out, for instance if you are two oppostie schedules and you never see the person at work; then I think it could work.

Anyway the other problem is that I simply do not know if he is gay or not...It seriously is a little harder to tell out here in California. Sure there are the normal signs that one would look for, but at the same time out here some of those signs don't really mean much of anything. For instance apparently some of the striaght guys out here like to wear girl jeans; they think it is fashionable. Back in MN the only people who wore girl jeans were girls and gays, so needless to say I am going to have to register my "gaydar" for the city of angels.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 12:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My roomate Robin has a guy names Bobby over right now who seems like the type of person I would totally love to hang out with. With that in mind I was hanging out in the room that they were in drinking a glass of wine and eating my Oreo ice cream just so I did not seem like some anti social freak. However, as I was sitting there I felt like I was intruding on their fun so now I am sitting in my room with my new best friend; my computer.

I have become one of those reclusive gay men who are constantly sitting on their computers alone from all human interaction when I should be out having a good time. I am living in close proximity to LA and I should totally be out partying it up and making new friends, but that is just not really possible because everyone who I would go out with (my cousin and Robin) all have their own friends and their own plans for the evening. (also it is sunday and everyone has to work tomorrow.)

People seem to think that I make new friends really easily and that I should be having no problems getting new friends here in California, but that just isn't the case. There is a reason why I had few friends in MN. I perfer to have close friends instead of aquintances, and thats all anyone new is at the moment; an aquiantence.

While I was in the room with Robin and Bobby I did not feel like I was being the social fun roomate, but I felt like I was being the creepy intrusive roomate. I am afraid of becoming the person who is so desperate for friends that I creep anyone out who might otherwise be a great friend. I guess my lack of a social life is yet another reason I probably should have stayed in MN.

The funny thing is, is that I moved out here because I did not want to live my life thinking, what if...the thing is, is that life is full of what ifs and we all just have to deal with what we have in the moment. We should not be living our lives thinking what if this and that because those are things we can never know. By continously thinking what if, we could be missing out on the things that are.

That probably did not make any sense to anyone and I will attribute that fact to the glasses of wine I have been drinkikng tonight.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Oh yeah!!! I got a second job that I am pretty excited about. I found out about this job through my Aunt Mary, who is friends with one of the ladies who is now my co-worker.

I am now the personal assistant, or administrative assistant for the owner of a live theater flying effects company!

At the moment I am part time, to see if this is something I would like to do, but I have a feeling I am going to ask to become full time pretty shortly. So far I have been doing smaller tasks that my boss does not have the time to do, but starting on Monday I am going to be helping out with preperation for a theater technology expo as well as doing some smaller HR work!

I am very excited about the learning opportunities that this job will open up for me in the long run.

I will still continue to wait to tables at Wood Ranch as well, just to get the extra income. I have had one training shift there and so far it is pretty similiar to Bonfire where I used to work. I am a little dissapointed that Wood Ranch is similar in tips to Bonfire. I was hoping to be making a lot more in cash tips if I waited tables in CA, however servers here make $6.75 instead of $6.15 and I think I heard that they are thinking about changing it to $7.00! Next week I go into super training mode, training like everyday of the week. I am going to be quite busy:-)

Posted by Daniel Frank at 04:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today I went to Laguna Beach, at small town off the Pacific Coast Highway made famous by it's many wonderful shops and MTV's reality television show Laguna Beach.

I was only able to spend about an hour there this morning because I only had a dollar in change and the only spots I could find were metered spots. I started off by sitting on the beach for awhile watching the people around me and the waves crashing on the shore. I am not sure why, but I absolutely love watching waves crash on a beach...there is something tranquil and relaxing about it; I'm sure many feel the same way.

After I was done sitting on the beach I walked around the streets looking at some of the shops, only to find my way back down to the beach again.

While I would like to tell you that I ran into the stars of Laguna Beach, I did not, but I'm sure LC says hi anyway.

On the way home I decided to continue along the PCH (Pacific Coast Hwy) until I got to The 5 which I would take towards LA to get back home. I got very close to my Uncle's house when traffic backed up and I exited the freeway, looking at my map I found an alternate route to get me back to my Uncle's house. Along the way I passed a street that I knew would connect me to my Unlces area, but I passed it because I was not really done with my driving adventure, and the map said there was another road coming up that I could take.

I guess I must have missed that other road because by the time I realized I was lost I was about 15-20 minuets away from being back down south by Laguna Beach. I was a little upset because now I was going to have to drive all the way back towards my Uncle's house and gas is freaking expensive, but I relaized that I got exactly what I wanted. A day away from his house exploring the area.

Laguna Beach is for sure an area I would love to go back to, but next time I am going to bring enough money to spend the whole day there so I can get a little bit of a tan; this pasty white skin has GOT to go!

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just wanted to let everyone know that I added a link towards the bottom of the page under "Links" where you can see my pictures that I have taken.

Also I have an interview at Wood Ranch today, which is a restaurant a lot like the Bonfire where I used to work back in Minnesota. I really did not want to apply at a restaurant because I am sick of waiting tables, however It has been about three weeks since I have worked so needless to say I am flat broke.

For those too lazy to go down to the bottom of the page I will add a link to the pictures site this one time.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This weekend has been pretty fun. My Uncle came home from New York and so we hung out and did a couple things while he was here.

On Saturday we went to watch my cousin Ann's water polo tournament. Her team won both games, which was not a huge surprise; apparently the other teams have a pretty shitty reputation.

On Sunday, today, we went to the swap meet so I could get some knock off sunglassess, but I did not find anything that I liked, so after that we went down to Newport Beach, which was awesome. I have been to Newport before, but this time was really cool. The weather was so nice today, about 70 degrees and it was great! We walked around in the water and some of the shops. Later we had lunch at this not so great looking place, but the food was soooo good.

Right now my cousin, Gary, who is also gay, has this boy here at the moment. I kind of feel bad for this guy because he so came over here to hang out with my cousin but they are in seperate rooms. What the hell is this about? He should stop leading him on.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't want to get anybody's hopes up, but today I really thought that maybe I should go back to Minnesota. I guess it's only because I have not been doing anything here. I look for jobs and go on interviews and that is it. I feel like I had so much going for me in Minnesota; good friends, good job, family, etc... Here all I really have is family, and my family has their own lives, their own jobs, and their own friends so they have not had much time for me.

I am not by any means giving up on California yet, I figure I should stay here for a few months and then if things don't work out I can always go back to Minnesota or I could go to Arizona and live with my mom.

I guess I am scared that if I go back to Minnesota, that means that I am a failure, that I was not good enough. At the same time I am scared that the longer I am away from Minnesota the more everyone and everything there is going to change. (also the more I am going to change)

At a certain point you have to wonder if you will even fit in...anywhere.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went to San Francisco over the weekend to hang out with my friend Lauren for her 23rd birthday. I had a lot of fun while I was there hanging out with Lauren. We went shopping one day, to Nappa the next, and the last day we went shopping again on the Berkley Campus.

On the way home I ended up sitting next to this guy who is part owner of a food and beverage service company called Ovations. I noticed that he was working on planning an event and so I started talking to him. Anyway we talked the rest of the flight about his business, and other things. When the flight was over he handed me his card! So I sent him my resume the other day and told him if he or any of his friends had any career opportunities to go ahead and send on my resume.

The neat thing is that his company is based out of Pleasanton California, which is where Lauren lives!

Today I have a job interview with JStarr Advertising at 3:15. From the sounds of things I am interviewing for an account manager position, which sounds very exciting. Tomorrow I have another interview with World Access Marketing. WAM is an sports and entertainment marketing company. It looks like all their employees start out as entry level and then they promote from within based off your preformance. Both companies are located in Orange County so there would not be much of a drive. I sent my resume out to a bunch of other places, but am still waiting for a responce.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

I have noticed something about a few of the boys here in Calfornia. It seems that some of them have some severe issues regarding their clothing.

It seems that some like to wear their underwear so high that the entire wasteband sticks out! These boys make sure that thier shirts are short enough or tucked in ever so slightly so that you can tell what brand of underwear they are acutally wearing. There was this boy at one of my cousin's waterpolo games, and he was wearing his underwear this way at school! Here is a hint; Tommy underwear does not impress anyone.

While some boys are wearing their underwear too high, some are wearing their underwear too low. No you really don't understand; these boys are wearing their underwear so low that it is still lying on their bedroom floors! I didn't know people still went commando. Commando is not so bad though, unless you are sitting down and your ass is hanging out of your jeans! I saw another boy sporting this style at ANOTHER water polo game...

Ok since both of these fashion errors occured at waterpolo games, maybe it's not all boys in California...Maybe it is only the boys who like to watch water polo at my cousins school!!!

Posted by Daniel Frank at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We stayed in Tuscon for one day and then we drove to Mesa Arizona where my mom lives. I spent a few days in the Mesa area hanging out with my mom, my cousins, and some friends that I have not seen in awhile. At first my mom said that she wanted to drive with me to California and that there was no way she was going to let me drive by myself. I was a little upset because I am an adult, I should be able to make that decision for myself, but I figured she was probably just having trouble letting go seeing as how I am the youngest family member.

One day while in Mesa my mom had me go to this friends place to check it out. It was a retirement rv resort, which was very nice looking. Apparently they have activities directors at these parks and while my mom knew I wanted to move to California, she wanted me to check out this place and meet with the current activities director to see if it might be something I would like to do. The park was cool, they did have a lot of events, but I am not sure I want to work around strictly people who are of the retirement age.

The day after that I went out and ran a shit ton of erands, one of which was buying my brand new notebook computer, which I still cannot figure out how to connect to my Uncle's internet service. (I am using my cousins computer at the moment.)

After all my erands were finished and my mom returned from work we went to PF Changs which is right across the street from where she lives. With that in mind we had two bottles of wine during dinner! Anyway I had never been to PF Changs and it is really good! It also helped that our waiter was an incredibly attractive black guy!! WHOOO HE WAS HOT, but straight to I pass that along to my sister. At some point in the night my Mom made mention to the server, Joseph, that I wanted to hook him up with my sister and he seemed really cool about it; he made a few great jokes. Later on it just so happened that my sister called and Joseph came over to the table and took the phone and started talking to her!!! It was really funny...DAMN HE WAS HOT!

The next day I left for California, by myself!!!! It was great! I finally felt a little bit more grown up. I arrived in California around 3:00 I think and my Uncle was there to help me get all my things unpacked.

So far I have not had anything to do but have managed to keep my days busy by running a shit town of erands and I have also started looking for jobs. I did find one that I thought would be incredibly interesting working for the OC Register (newspaper) in the Advertising Sales deptartment. Now all I have to do is put together an impressive reumee and apply for the job!

Posted by Daniel Frank at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

December 1st was the first day of the actual move. My mom wanted an early start, so when 5:00 in the morning rolled around she called me at Katie and Tony's place to tell me that the party was over and she would there within the next half hour.

Leaving Katie and Tony on the curb of their apartment after we shared a big group hug was very hard, lots of tears were shed after we all thought that we did not have any more left in us. As we drove away it felt like of of those moments in a movie when someone leaves town. They sit in the car looking back while the other people watch the car drive off into the distance.

I fell asleep shortly after and woke up when we hit Albertville or some small town in southern Minnesota where we stopped to fill the gas tank. After that I fell back asleep again. It seemed as if that was the theme for me of the drive down, wake up fall asleep, etc...

I did get to drive as we were nearing the end of Iowa, but I got pulled over by a police officer and was given a bull shit ticket. Apparently he clocked me going 84 in a 70 a few miles back. This is bullshit because my cruise control was set at 74, so while I was speeding I was not going that fast; I was given an $82 ticket.

After that I did not drive again until we got to Kansass, and I drove through much of that state, which was about 2 hours. Throughout everything my Mom did most of the driving. It got a little irratating when she would need me to drive and she would tell me exactly when I was to stop driving because she would be ok to drive again. In those times I would drive for about 15-20 minuets.

When we first started driving I thought that we would stop someplace in Texas or in Oaklahoma City, however we ended up driving straight though. The next day at around 9:00 we arrived in Tuscon Arizona. Why Tuscon? Apparently there was some snow falling in the mountains and it was getting pretty icy, so in order to avoid the bad weather we drove down south a little further and went into Tuscon.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Actually this entry occurs the night before the actual move, but is directly involved with the move from Minnesota to California.

On Jan 31st, before I went to my Aunt's house for my Grandma's birthday, I was packing the remainder of my belongings into my car for the drive which would start the next day. Once the car was packed I realized that I should have done things a little differently that day as I still had to drive my dog, Lucy, to my other Grandparents house for the weekend...Now there was no room for her and her overnight stuff. I am not sure how I managed to fit everything in, but I did it. Too bad for Lucy that meant that on the way to Grandma's house she had to stay in her kennel.

After dropping off Lucy I was going to head immediately over to my Aunt's house for dinner, but realized I was way too early and that I forgot a few items at home. When I got home to pick up my forgotten things I noticed that my Dad and Nancee were home, so I pulled in behind Nancee's car as I was only going to be there for a few short minuets. Once I turned of my car Dad and Nancee came out of the house and Nancee motioned for me to back up because she was going to leave. So I left the driveway and parked in the street.

As I walked up to the house Nancee pulled out of the driveway and headed to Hudson for their romantic weekend away. And I asked my Dad if they were headed out soon, which he told me that they were and he only needed to pack a few more things before he left. I told him I was home to pick up something I forgot and that I would also be heading out soon.

As I was walking up to the house I noticed that Nancee's car was leaking something so I told my Dad and he agreed saying, "yeah it is." That is the last thing he said to me. No "goodbye" no "good luck", no "I love you", or drive safe. That was the last time I even talked to him as he has not called to make sure the drive went ok.

In his defense, maybe he didn't know I was moving the next day and that he would not see me, however I know that I told him and I know that he was aware that I was dropping off Lucy for the weekend at my Grandma's house. I had better not hear anyone ever make another excuse for that man...He is an uncaring selfish asshole.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 01:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Years Eve gets its own entry in the countdown to the move because it was a really hard day for me. I started the day out by going to my Aunts house for my Grandma's birthday. We did a little dinner and cards again. Once again it was a good time. After that I had my mom drive me to Katie and Tony's house so the realy new years celebration could begin.

When I got there it was just Katie, Tony, and Ox; so we decided to open our Christmas presents we got for eachother. I can't say how important the gifts I recieved were, as they will always hold special meaning in my heart.

Once more people started arriving the party really took off and shots were being passed around and what not. It was a great time, we were dancing singing and drinking all night long. When the ball dropped we were all sat around the coffee table with champange counting down the seconds.

As the clock drew closer and closer to 5:00 the time my mom said she would call about picking me up, the evening took a different turn. It became a lot more emotional as we all knew the time to say goodbye was creeping up. Earlier in the evening Katie and I had a little moment where we both broke down crying, saying how much we were going to miss eachother and how much it meant to be able to call eachother friends. I am going to miss every little thing about Katie, the way she always quotes movies, the way she dances with me out at the clubs, the way she can make me laugh, and the way that she truly understood me.

Tony saved his thoughts and feelings towards the end of the night. Tony has never really been one to let someone in, and even after he does he rarely tells you how he is actually feeling. At some point in the night Tony and Katie went into Tony's bathroom and they were in there for a really long time. At first we thought they were just going to the bathroom or that Tony had, had enough partying and Katie was just making sure he was ok. A little later on Katie came out with tears rolling down her eyes and told me to go into the bathroom.

I pretty much knew right then and there what to expect, but was not prepared for the flood gates that opened after I entered the bathroom. I always knew that Tony cared about me as a friend, but I had no clue how much so. Everything he told me that night brought tears to my eyes because there was really nothing I could do or say to make things any easier for him. Finally we were both completely wiped out and we went into his room where we layed down on his bed and just talked about things as we cuddled up and watched the clock countdown one last time.

I really wish that I could have frozen time forever.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So it has been a long long time since I was able to update this. As you know this has been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me. On Thursday the 22nd of December we went out for Tony's birthday. Usualy there is always something that goes wrong on his birthday, but this year passed by drama free.

On Friday December 23rd I went to spend Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. Every year this is pretty much the same thing over and over. This year was no exception, although I did have a good time. This was on of the get togethers where some people would be seeing me for the last time. (or until I come back to visit)

On Chirstmas Eve my Mom came in from AZ and we skipped church to go to Chili's for a bump...I know I am going to hell. Then we went to my Aunts house for a little family get together. That was more fun than I thought it would be. After that I went home and did some light packing and went to bed.

On Christmas Day I went to my Aunts house again where we did the usual presents thing and dinner with cards after. I had a good time but had to leave early because my cousin was going to come over early in the morning to help me pack up all my furniture to be moved to a familiy friends house.

On the 26th my cousin arrived late for moving duty, but that was ok because it gave me more time to get things organized for when he did arrive. All in all it took about an hour and a half to pack up everything. We finally got it to the drop off location at around 3:00 and quickly unloaded everything because I had to be to work at 5:00.

The 27th was my graduation party at my Grandma's condo. That was a lot of fun, but this is when things started to get a little emotional for everyone because now there were a lot of people who were having to say goodby to me. After the party Katie, Tony, my Mom, and Karen, met over at Jimmy's in White Bear where we continued the celebration.

The 28th was spent relaxing and I worked. The 29th was my last time working at Bonfire. I worked the day shift and made some pretty good money. After that I ran some erands, went home to change, and then started hitting the bars. I started out at Bonfire where a lot of the employees kept coming up to me and telling me that they were going to miss me and that things would not be the same there without me. Usually I feel like that is what people HAVE to say when someone the work with leaves, but I actually believed it this time. I did not anticipate leaving Bonfire being to difficult, but really when I sat down and talked about it, it was not leaving the job that was difficult, it was leaving the people.

After bonfire we went to Old Chicago and the party continued at light speed. I had so many shots that night I am suprised that I could walk. We ended the night by going back to the hotel room that I got, have a few more beers. and falling asleep.

The 30th we went out for my Grandma's 80th birthday. We went to Chanhassen Dinner Theaters to see "Nunsense-ational" It had some funny moments, but for the most part I found myself trying to not fall asleep.

Posted by Daniel Frank at 06:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)