My friend Jason.

There are times when he truly has the power to amaze This Man! This evening was one of those times. He worked from home today because he'd been a bit under the weather and I'd agreed to stop by his house to check up on him on my way home from the doctor.
"Where are you?" He asked. I was about to commence my 30 block stroll from First Street in Hillcrest down to 30th Street in North Park. "I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat."
We agreed to meet in the middle (Park Boulevard & University Avenue).
Of course, we started with our usual argument of where to eat. I usually opt for someplace where the food is good but cheap whereas he goes for restaurants where the food is good and the patrons are young and attractive. This time we compromised and settled on Brians'.
We were looking at our menus when he noticed a nice looking guy, sitting at the counter, eating a starter salad. He was alone.
"That guy is hot!" I should point out that Jason has a thing for young, slim, fresh faced bois and sitting in front of us was exactly his type!
"Why don't you go up and talk to him, " I was still looking at my menu. "He's by himself. Why don't you go up, introduce yourself and invite him to come and join us?"
"I can't do that."
"Why not? He's by himself, what's the worst he could say?"
"Why don't you show me? Teach me how I should do it." Jason and I tossed this around for a bit.
" Just go up and say, 'Hi, I'm Jason and I was wondering if you would like to come over and join me and my friend over here since you're eating by yourself'"
"Okay, I can do that." And he did. He got up, walked over to the guy, introduced himself and invited him over.
And it worked! The guy came over, slid into our booth and joined us.
Turns our, our dinner companion was from Tennessee and he was in San Diego for his six month tour in the Navy Reserves. He was 28, a bit on the shy side, married (yes, married) and he was cute. But he was nice. Jason and I even managed to get him to relax and actually laugh a little (which was no easy task, I mean you try being a White guy asked to join two Black men at their dinner table and see if you relax) .
The conversation flowed and the three of us had a great time. Finally we settled our bills and parted ways. Jason and I still can't remember what his name was.
Back at Jason's apartment (which he got the place looking fantastic), he informed me that he was expecting a guy from Dallas at any moment.
"He's coming into town and I told him that he could stay in my empty room for a few days since he was new to this city and was looking for a job. He reminds me of when I first got to San Diego."
I instantly thought of the last 'roommate' that he'd offered his home to and prayed that there wouldn't be a repeat of that. The guy showed up half an hour later and actually seemed nice. Like Jason and myself, he was from Texas so that was a big plus. He started moving his things in. At first I thought that Jason, who isn't big on animals (namely cats) would frown on the small dog, but he was cool.
Again, I was amazed.
This evening, once This Man got home, I chatted with him on Gay.com.
"You know, " I typed. "You truly amaze me sometimes."
I explained that it was refreshing to see Jason going outside of his normal self. At Brians', he would've never have went up to a total stranger and invited them to join us at our table, normally opting to gawk at an attractive guy from a distance. Not tonight. And though he swore that he would never get in another roommate situation again, he was opening his home up to a guy who truly seemed to appreciate the gesture. Again, something that truly wowed me about him.
"I don't see what the big deal is," he typed back.
Here's the big deal, Jason: contrary to what you think, sometimes you truly have to power to wow me. The last thing I typed to him during our Gay.com chat session (he'd went to bed by then because he didn't respond) was, "You are truly a wonderful person and don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Mahalo