Javi's Journey Through Dreadful Dating

In case you've been living under a rock for the past year, or like me have an ever growing list of movies and shows to get through (hey, if you do have some recommendations send them my way, I'll get to them), you might not know that 2018 saw Netflix roll out a crap-ton of teen rom-coms. And honestly, who doesn't love a good teen rom-com? All the emotions are ramped up to 11. Everything is life or death. And, I get to relive the glorious trauma and flashbacks of my Senior Prom over and over again. Trust me, seeing flat-assed suburban kids trying to shake it to some Pussycat Dolls is pretty scarring. One of my favorite 2018 teen movies was: To All the Boys I've Loved Before. You should definitely check it out as well as the book, of the same name. Seriously, stop reading this post now and go read and watch it and then come back. Okay, good. We're on the same page now. Seriously, it's a cute story. The movie, which I may or may not have already seen like 6

The above Grindr photo is not one from my personal collection. No, I don't collect pictures of guys, that would be weird...put my phone down Julio. While not of my collection, this is a profile I have seen many times. Too many times. It's not just on Grindr. It's on other dating apps and other social media. Being a minority in the gay world, and for purposes of this blog, let's limit this world to the United States (although I'm sure people from other countries can probably share the same experience, but I won't speak for them) is a world in which you are both fetishized as an exotic creature or demoted to second-class sub-species. Often guys on these apps take the best and worst qualities of "your" culture (I never really know who's culture they're taking from but must be someone's, right) and instantly make judgments on who you are. Sure, some of you might be saying "Javi, that's the name of the game. Dude, if you can'

I've always been an ambitious kid. Never one to quit too early or take the easy road. Hell, the road I usually end up taking isn't even on the map and you best believe I'm too prideful to ask for help. So, as part of my ambition is my need to write creatively. It's definitely not just a desire. It's like in my head there are thousands of words, stories, and characters that need to breathe on a page. Trust me, the normal voices in my head aren't that needy. In order to not go crazy and sustain this need, I write when I can. I will be the first to say that I am not the best and even when I do write, I am not consistent. Throughout high school and college I created an account on Fiction Press as an outlet for the characters that simply could not wait. I will say I've done some work over there. If you're interested, drop me a line and I will share the wonders of my work. However, Fiction Press wasn't enough. I also had an overflowing a