AJ at the Bath's

So my friend who lives in LA went to a gay bathhouse recently. As my friend Rita once found out, a gay bathhouse is very different than a regular bathhouse or a day spa. He works in HIV prevention and STD counseling down in LA and as such, it was unclear as to whether he was visiting the bathhouse for work reasons, or for "personal" reason. I didn't inquire and I don't think he volunteered, though if push comes to shove, and I had asked, I am sure he would not have any issues telling me. My friend is very sex positive.

While at the bath house though, he saw AJ there.

Well, a poster of AJ that is.

About a year ago we had a photoshoot for a syphilis awareness campaign that is running in LA. We had scheduled a couple of models to be in the campaign (a white person, and a Latino person) and neither person showed up at the shoot. I mean, TOTAL no shows, couldn't get ahold of them, nothing. And the campaign material had to go to press in two days.

So I called up AJ and had him rush down to the shoot, and I called my Latino coworker Fernando to rush down, and we shot them.

The ad has AJ picking up Fernando in a bar. It was a bit surreal at the photoshoot, watching AJ try to pretend flirt with Fernando my coworker. But the photo shoot went without a hitch (other than the initial substitution of the two models) and I was able to get the materials out the door to the printer. Luckily I had my boyfriend to save the day, and luckily we had a coworker that was Latino (though my boss later complained that Fernando didn't look Latin enough in the photos and could I do something in photoshop to make him look more Latin. Fernando is half Spanish, half Mexican. What more can I do to make him look more Latin? I suggested putting a burrito in his hand, and adding a sombrero on his head, but my boss wasn't very amused. We left him as is in the end).

Thing was, I never really had a chance to see the final product (posters and postcards) as they went directly to the client. So I knew that somewhere in LA there would be posters of AJ and Fernando flirting. Just as there are posters of me and a model hanging out at the movies in LA as well. I just didn't know where.

And now I know.

So it looks like AJ and I probably won't be going to any bathhouses in LA anytime soon. Not with AJ looking like he has syphilis. Or possibly with my poster floating around with me looking like I have syphilis down there. Which is just as well, as the last time we tried to go to a bathhouse it ended up with disastrous results.

But if you go the bathouse in LA anytime, think of AJ and I. We'll be around.