I've been so busy with work, doing urgent, last minute freelance jobs. It's fun though, but after a lazy Christmas holiday I'm unused to such a frenetic pace. I'm doing work now for a big U.S. company, which is great for my resume.

I did have time to watch Donald Trump's reality tv show "The Assistant." It seems like a good concept. On tonight's show, the winner of two teams (the women's team, not the men's team) got to see Donald Trump's apartment in the Trump Tower. My gosh, does he ever need a Queer Eye Makeover for his apartment! It proves that money doesn't buy taste. It's the epitome of 80s excess and Neo-Rococco decoration. It's all gold, marble and faux Greek statues. Apparently Yvonna designed everything. And Donald Trump's haircut...'nice' comb-over job, man.

I read Toddo's comments about wanting to live in a large urban city, where there are policy makers and things happen. I used to think I wanted that, when I was in my 20s, but my opinion has changed immensely. I've been to New York City once, but I wouldn't want to go again. Especially after watching "The Assistant." Even Vancouver is getting a little too big for me. I love the West Coast lifestyle. It's more layed-back, less fast-paced and fortunately the city doesn't overwhelm nature. I can't be without the mountains, oceans and cedar forests. I still have a fantasy of moving to San Diego. Or some other beautiful community on the West Coast, other than LA or San Francisco.

Remember the roommate I had? The guy who just moved from Australia? Who I thought was cute? Well, he turned out to be very un-cute. After a month or so, I realized he was fairly homophobic. He thought he was gay-friendly, based on the fact that he had a gay roommate in Australia. But I found out, eventually, that his gay roommate wasn't out.

His roommate had just realized he was gay in the year before, after being militantly heterosexual the rest of his life. So he didn't hang out with other gay people, didn't understand gay life, didn't exhibit any typical gay culture or characteristics and didn't understand anything about being gay, other than he liked to suck dick. So my un-cute roommate thought this is what gay people are like.

I'd have to say I'm fairly conservative, overall, and wouldn't do anything to intimidate a heterosexual, but in comparison to his last roommate, I'm a flaming queen. For instance, when Joe Millionaire was on tv, I decided to download the Fox image of David Smith, in a cowboy hat, shirtless, as a screensaver on my desktop. This freaked my roommate out, he became red-faced and uncomfortable, and defensively said, "Yeah, I should download a screensaver of Bionce on my computer." He always felt the need to defend his heterosexuality if there was any hint of my gayness.

We also had a couple of arguments over sexuality issues. He didn't believe me when I told him that there were many straight-identified men who had gay sex, occassionally. He argued passionately against this, almost in fear. He has a very fixed, one-point perspective about life, which is based on his own straight and very sheltered life.

I also found him to be very opinionated about design and a variety of other things which he simply doesn't have the education or life experience on which to base any opinions. And yet he had a snottiness to his opinions. Very unattractive.

It was odd, because it appeared on the outside that he was open-minded, easy-going and comfortable in his skin and sexuality. But once he was confronted with anything outside his comfort zone, he had a hard time maintaining his pretenses.

He left in December, and I've been living on my own for the last couple months. I should try to find a new roommate for February to help with bills. Having a roommate, I'm discovering, is very difficult. It's hard to find the right combination of personalities. My first roommate, Ahmed, from Scotland, was perfect. He was all about having a good time, being positive, getting along with people, partying, making good friends and enjoying hiimself. And spending a lot of time at school. My second roommate turned out to be bizarre, and my third, Mr. Un-Cute, quite unpleasant. So, I'm not sure if I need a gay roommate (this has its own problems) or a gay-friendly roommate (also more potential problems). I guess it involves experimentation and experience. In my life I've also been a roommate, and had a couple of good experiences, but mostly they were difficult and very temporary.

So, we'll see.