Why, oh why, did I sign up for this?
A new site has hit the web, called FaceStat.com. You post a photo of yourself and strangers judge you. They judge your age, attractiveness, trustworthiness, intelligence, and even use words to describe you.
I should preface by saying I’m a very sensitive person. Very sensitive.
But anyway, I did it. These are the results…
My age: 31 (I’m 26, thank you very much)
My trustworthiness: Super trustworthy
My intelligence: Bright
My race: Other (WTF?!)
My attractiveness: Not bad (Some voted “repulsive”, others voted “not bad” and “good lookin”. The median vote was “not bad”.)
Words to describe me: Nice, happy, outgoing, earthy, cheesy, attractive, goofy, pleasant, trustworthy, and whoa
In a cold, harsh world where people are uninhibited online, I guess I made it out fairly unscathed. It could have been worse, right?
Many of you may be aware of a blog called Hunk du Jour (French translation: Hunk of the Day). It features daily photos, profiles, and interviews with sexy men. Some are celebrities, some are just average guys found online. It’s a great variety with something for every hunk lover. It’s also very interactive, as readers get to vote for tomorrow’s featured man.
Today they launched a new website design, and guess who designed it? Me. 
I’ve been working closely with Chris, the site’s owner, to create a whole new look. I had such a great time working on this site! (Who wouldn’t?) But working with Chris is what really made the difference. He’s been a great client and I hope his readers enjoy the new layout.
Have a looksie:
Recently my friend Lewis requested people to post a photo of their tattoo(s). So here’s mine and the story that goes along with it.
The tattoo is a cartoon of a Japanese scorpion, named Sasori. Sounds fancy, but it’s really just the translation of “scorpion” in Japanese. (Cue the gasps.)
When I was 17, an artist friend of mine used to draw characters on me with henna. I liked the scorpion so much (it’s my astrological sign) and I decided I’d enjoy being branded with it for the rest of my life. (This turned out to be false.)
My parents took me to the tattoo parlor and paid for the tattoo. It was a gift. My other 2 brothers have tattoos also. I guess you could say we’re ink brothers.
When I first got Sasori, I thought I was so cool. None of the other kids in school had one and I was just so bad-ass.
But then the questions started… “Why isn’t it colored in?”
I heard that dozens of times, day after day.
The tattoo was never meant to be in color. I was so bothered by that constant question that I’ve pretty much worn long pants the rest of my adult life. Sad, isn’t it?
Now the obvious question is “If it bothers you so much, why don’t you just have it modified?”
While that would make sense, I don’t want another tattoo. And I don’t want this one to be more prominent. In fact, someday, I plan to have it removed.
But as far as tattoos in general, I’m all for them. I just don’t want any on me.
My friend Rey sent this via e-mail last night, and I decided to turn it into a blog post. I’m just a rebel like that…
1. What time did you get up this morning?
The better question is what time did I go to bed this morning? 4:30 AM, woke up at 12 Noon. (Sidenote: I always think it’s funny when I tell people that and they say “I wish I could sleep in like you do.” I’m not sleeping in, I’m just sleeping on a different schedule. 
)
2. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds, fo shizzle.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
Bee Movie (Wow, has it been since November 2007???)
4. What are your favorite TV shows?
Too many to say, so let me narrow it down to ones that are currently on the air:
- Dirt
- The Simpsons
- Family Guy
- Two and a Half Men
- The New Adventures of Old Christine
- Survivor
- South Park
- The Ellen Degeneres Show
- Oprah
- The Soup
5. What do you usually have for breakfast?
Quaker Oats cereal and Pineapple Orange Juice
6. What is your middle name?
I don’t even use my real last name on here. So just for fun, let’s say Nathan North West is my full name.
7. What food do you dislike?
The food I eat could be found on a kid’s menu. I don’t like spicy food, ethnic food, and/or anything “weird”.
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment?
Mariah Carey E=MC2. Yes, I downloaded the leak. But hey, I’ve already pre-ordered the real thing, so does that balance out my piracy?
9. What time is it right now?
5:01PM CST
10. Favorite Sandwich?
Club sandwich, easy on the lettuce. I don’t like a whole garden in there.
11. What characteristic do you despise?
Pushiness, cockiness, rudeness… basically anything that entails being dominating, aggressive, or hurtful to others.
12. Favorite item of clothing?
My pajamas, which are my uniform
13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
Hawaii, which I will someday
14. Where would you retire to?
Savannah, GA… again, someday
15. What was your most memorable birthday?
A surprise birthday party in 2005 when my friends from North Carolina flew in to Nashville. They showed up at the doorstep at 11PM, and I had a cleanser on my face when I answered the door.
16. Furthest place you are sending this?
I guess as far as it wants to go?
17. Person you expect to send it back?
Anybody who has the time, I suppose.
18. Morning person or a night person?
Night person… I’m nocturnal like a cat.
19. What is your shoe size?
10-11, depending on the material.
20. Pets?
2 cats, 1 very noisy dog, and I guess this damn family of bunnies is ours now too since they eat our grass in the front yard, then poop it out in the backyard, then go to sleep on the porch.
21. Any new and exciting news you’d like to share with us?
As a matter of fact, I do! But I can’t share it because I’m superstitious! Maybe in a few months.
22. What did you want to be when you were little?
I wanted to be an actor.
23. How are you today?
I’m happier with my career more now than I ever have been in my whole life. It keeps getting better.
24. What is your favorite flower?
Honeysuckle because it reminds me of summer nights on Grandma and Grandpa’s farm.
25. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to?
Every day, actually.
26. What are you listening to right now?
Prepare yourself for a shocker… Mariah!
27. What was the last thing that you ate?
Some type of health bar.
28. Do you wish on stars?
Actually I do. The nice thing about not living in the city is that I can actually see them when I walk Petey at night.
29. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Bright green, but now you have to read this post!
30. How is the weather right now?
Overcast but warm.
31. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
A client.
32. Favorite soft drink?
Sprite.
33. Favorite restaurant?
Any of the places we ate with Rey at in New York. (Awwww…)
34. What was your favorite toy as a child?
I don’t remember, but I did carry around my blue blankey and I still have it. Does that count?
35. Summer or Winter?
Summer (although I prefer Spring)
36. Chocolate or vanilla?
Vanilla
37. Coffee or Tea?
Cappuccino
38. Do you want your friends to email you back?
Post it, e-mail it, whatever you want.
39. When was the last time you cried?
April 6th, 2008.
40. What is under your bed?
Nothing at all.
41. What did you do last night?
Installed Windows XP on my Mac. 
42. What are you afraid of?
Scary things, of course.
43. Salty or Sweet?
Sweet.
44. How many keys on your key ring?
Three
45. How many years at your current job?
One.
46. Favorite day of the Week?
Saturday.
47. Do you make friends easily?
Not really, I hold back at first.
48. How many people will you send this to?
Anyone reading.
49. How many will respond?
Not sure.
50. Do you like finding out all this stuff about your friends?
Yes, I’m very curious by nature.
I’ve updated my blog design for 2008. I try to change it once per year. As usual, it was a bit of a challenge. I would get everything nice and neat for Firefox and Safari, then I’d check it in Internet Explorer and it looked like a broken mess.
This is the first edition that has been completely designed using CSS DIV’s, which Internet Explorer does not play nice with. I’m awful with programming, but as far as I know, I pulled it off with this one.
I finally changed the logo I’ve been using for 3 years. I always liked that cracked font, it was the same font used for the “Psycho” movie posters. But it was time for something new.
Please let me know if you have problems viewing the site because I want to know.
This is how it should look:
And here’s the old design:
Last December, I announced on my blog that I was going to have a column in the online edition of Out & About, Nashville’s GLBT newspaper. Since I wrote that post, a lot of friends that I talk to outside of my blog have asked what became of that.
I haven’t posted a follow-up because quite honestly, I don’t know what to say.
Here’s what happened—
I’m friends with the publisher of Out & About, and he really liked my blog. He wanted to know if I’d write articles for the online edition of the newspaper. I was excited and jumped the gun, blabbering about it on my blog and announcing it to all you readers.
That was a mistake. I usually don’t announce anything prematurely. But that was a little flub. Since the publisher initiated this, I jumped to the conclusion that it was a done deal.
It turned out the decision would need to go through the editor first. That’s where things got stuck, and have been ever since. I sent the editor some samples of posts I’ve written, and he said he’d review them. I tried to follow-up several times after that and never got a response. I really don’t know what happened.
That’s the story, and I thought I should fill you in since people have been asking. But I want to emphasize that I never heard anything positive or negative. It would be bad journalism for me to insinuate the outcome, so I just want to remain neutral and say nothing came of it. Nothing good, nothing bad.
But thanks for all the kind words of support and excitement. It really meant a lot to have people cheering for me.
Valentine’s Day is next week, and I realized that I never really do anything cool on my blog to celebrate it. So I had an idea… A lot of my readers are couples, so I wondered if you’d like to share your love story? Tell readers about how you met, and all that good stuff.
If you’re interested, send it my way and I can publish it. I don’t know how much response I’ll get, but I thought I’d put it out on the table.
Any takers?
E-mail secrets [at] nathanexposed [dot] com
All it takes is a few busy days, and then you realize you haven’t written a thing on your blog. Even worse, I left things in such a sad place. Well thanks for all the words of support and agreement. People don’t always agree, but it is nice when they do.
Well it was a good week, though it flew by. Yesterday and today, I spent on-site with clients. I usually don’t do that, because most of the website work I do can all be handled via phone or e-mail. But I did get free lunch two days in a row, so maybe I should meet with people more often.
(Yes, I’m aware I should be the one paying… believe me, I offered.)
Tonight, we watched A Clockwork Orange. It wasn’t as good or as shocking as I remembered, but Rodney had never seen it. I think I was about 10 years old when I first saw it. Oh, the things you see when you have older brothers.
In other news, Rodney has announced to me that he plans on writing on my blog. This is interesting news, coming from the guy who used to say he “has no interest in blogs.”
But he’s been reading mine lately, and one day he just walked in the room and said “You know, Nathan, you’re a really good writer.”
Thanks, Rodney. It only took you 7 years to say that. 
I guess that’s it in my neck of the woods. I hope everyone is doing well.
It’s been awhile since I posted a “Conversations with Myself” segment, an idea I borrowed from Rey. It’s just a two sided discussion with my own inner conscious, mainly for the purpose of presenting a thought process in a way that’s easy to follow.
So I hear you’re working on being the gay white male Oprah of blogs?
Yep, I’ve wanted to for awhile now.
What the heck is the gay white male Oprah of blogs?
Well… I used to say I wanted to be the gay white Oprah. But Ellen Degeneres filled that spot…. well, kind of. Ellen is funny, Oprah really isn’t, at least not on purpose. When Oprah does the deep bull-dyke voice, she is hilarious. Oh, and also when she calls her vagina a “vajayjay.” That never gets old.
But Oprah and Ellen are both on TV. You get mad if you have to put pants on to leave the house. In fact, you wear your pajamas when you do leave the house, and you refuse to go anywhere that doesn’t have a drive through.
This is true. That’s why I added “of blogs” to the end of the title. With the internet, I don’t have to wear pants. Just look at my blog header.
So why do you want to be like Oprah? Or Ellen?
I love both of them. They inspire humanity. They are intelligent, strong willed, and compassionate. They help make the world a better place. And they are both minorities, who would have never made it 50 years ago. I always like a story of triumph.
Mmm-kay… that’s all true. But how are you going to change the world with your pants off?
I’m not sure yet, I just know I am. I’ve always known I would. I want to reach people, and that takes work. But little by little, I think I’m doing it. I think I’m reaching people. Somehow, someway, I think I help make people happier.
So what’s this big news?
Well, it’s big news to me. The publisher of Out & About, Nashville’s GLBT newspaper, has become a friend of mine in recent months. He didn’t know about my blog, because I usually just tell people about my business website. But I finally decided I knew him well enough to share it with him. So he came here and read through it, and really liked my writing. He told me he wanted me to do some writing for the newspaper, but all the sections are already filled with writers. However, the newspaper also has a quickly growing online website, which has unlimited growth potential. He asked if I would like to write a section for the newspaper’s website.
Now I just need to find a topic and a theme. I have a few ideas, but Jerry (that’s his name) suggested I ask the readers of my blog what I should write about. So now I am. I value your opinions.
I want it to be different. The basics are covered- they have news, entertainment, opinions, etc. Jerry suggested I write an advice column, which I’d really enjoy. A sex advice column would be fun, but then I would eternally be pegged as “that sex writer” and I don’t want that. That’s not Oprah worthy.
How about something inspirational? Something that helps people be happier, more successful, more satisfied with life? That’s a broad net to cast. But I also want it to be a little edgy sometimes. Something that people would read and say “Damn, that Nathan is pushing the envelope. I’m going to forward this to all my friends.”
Okay, readers! What are your thoughts? Keep in mind that whenever a new article is published, I’ll be posting something here about it. So it needs to be a topic people enjoy and could stomach on a regular basis.
Hello? Am I even in the room anymore?
Sorry, I got sidetracked talking to the people on my blog. Help me become the gay white male Oprah of blogs! What are my strongest writing abilities???
I’m leaving now…
Thanks for listening.
You know I LOVE taking polls…
Regarding birth order (original post):
A whopping 46% of readers who participated are the oldest child! There is an even balance of middle born and youngest, each teetering around the 25% mark. Just one participant is an only child, which is oddly humorous if you think about it.
As for poor ol’ fruitcake (original post):
Readers are pretty divided about that. 54% of participants DO like fruitcake (I’m one of them), and 46% do not like it. Geographically, almost everyone who said they liked it lives in the South or Midwestern states.
And now for a new poll…
How much will you spend on gifts this Christmas?
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