A few remarks have educated me. That is, that MLK Day is next week. I’m sorry for having been so ignorant. It’s just that the day for me was always, always in the middle of the month, usually on the second Monday. This was my experience from working in restaurants for a long time.

But I’m terrible about occasions. I’ve had friends for over thirty years and I still don’t remember their birthdays. I love them and they know it but I’m lousy about the big days. In fairness to me, I never expect any recognition for my own. I stopped caring about that when I turned twenty-five and decided that middle-age had hit.

Never mind, though. Who’s going to Enrique’s party? Write in. Make me more envious.

- Jack X

With Valentine’s Day coming up, I’m required to write articles about something more than hook-ups. In other words, love between men. Real love.

Now, I’ve never beaten around the bush about how I like anonymous sex. The more anonymous, the better. I like it in bathrooms, lockerooms, alleyways. But there was a boyfriend once. It didn’t last long because I wasn’t emotionally equipped to make it last, but he was something else. We met online and he told me he looked like Tom Cruise. Did I believe this? Hell, no. But he did. He was beefy and muscled and gorgeous, and a real sweetheart too. One of my best memories is of us hanging out on my couch, watching a bad movie, him in my arms, making out during breaks.

I blew it. No, not his dick (though we did go farther than making out). I dropped him. Dumbass me.

- Jack X

Well, it seems I spoke too soon when I boasted about how hot a holiday session can be. For hours, I negotiated on several major cruising sites for guys. For hours, I was teased, phoned, promised, and let down. Then I’d log on again, get hard, and get let down again.

That’s the real bitch about hook-up sites. Men play. I wrote about this in my M4M and it’s very true. Men are boned up and frantic at their computers but, as sure as the sun will rise, most of them are content to beat off without ever actually connecting. I’m guilty of the same crime myself. It’s a strange and new pornography, how literal contact can turn a dude on so much that he doesn’t need to follow it up in the flesh.

But I did get lucky. A hot Latino boy came over late and took care of my business in an explosive way. When he left, I noticed my cell phone was gone too. The wages of sin.

- Jack X

I’ve written about how the holidays bring guys together, how they visit family in different places and feel freer to fuck around. What’s better than that? Today. Martin Luther King Day.

It’s a terrific chance for those of us on the prowl. So many men have the day off and we all know what that translates to - boners everywhere. Then, there’s none of the customary guilt. Christmas is long gone and there’s nothing especially sacrosanct about MLK Day. So we got us a ton of boned up men with a lot of empty hours on their hands.

Days off mean getting off for a healthy portion of the male population. Take advantage of it. Hit the listings, hit the arcades. Then book your tickets for EC’s big party. I don’t think anything’s gonna be hotter than that.

- Jack X

Who’s the sexiest man you never got it on with? You know the ones I mean - the dazzling studs who grab you with their eyes and get you throbbing in no time.

For me it was in a Pittsburgh department store, one famous for its men’s room. It’s been shut down a long time since; it had become a virtual arcade, with dudes camped out in stalls and just taking in all the action they could get. Which was a lot. Yeah, I shopped there. But I also made sure to check out the scene in that toilet. It was fantastic.

Holding a stall once myself, I was cruising above the door to see what was going on. That’s when I saw this guy, right opposite of me. He was a redhead with a bushy mustache and eyes that just burned right through me. Sexier than hell. I actually followed him out - it seemed like he worked there. Then I lost him. Son of a bitch. The one that got away. But I still remember that smoldering gaze.

- Jack X