So, this will come as no shock to anyone who knows, and if you’ve read a few of my posts, you will probably respond to this statement with, “Yeah, and?” So here goes: I’m … well … you know … a Big HomoSexual!
Stop tittering.
So, I had a fair tedious breakup 26 December 2007 … by email. Yes, email. Thank you, thank you. It was a great way to learn. No, no, please … hold your applause.
After a month of trying to fix it, I realized that would be a mistake. I took a break from dating until about 4 weeks ago – then kaBOOM (see the Emergency post). In the last month, though, I’ve met some wonderful people, and had many people pop back into my life in great, and wonderful ways.
Then … Pride Weekend.
Last year I met a guy named Sean when I was between boyfriends. He was involved, and for me … that’s a no-no for anything more than friendship. Randomly, we ran into each other earlier this year, and as he was in mid-breakup, well … let’s just say we put on a little show (clothes on) in the Midnight Sun. A couple days later, we had that Faux Date that I wrote about previously. Since then, we’ve waited until the breakup was official – mostly my doing. And he went off to the Southern Hemisphere to take care of that …
It’s Friday evening, and I arrive at my contigent monitor training. They keep adding chairs, and I keep moving to the new end of the row. They finally add another chair, and I decide, “Screw it. Let’s see who sits here.” Well, who sat there was a heart-throb of mine from one of the Internet Dating Services, Raj. What a handsome, gentle person he is. And Buddhist, too! We chatted, but I didn’t push it. I decided I’d chat with him at the Festival.
I headed up to meet my friends, Adi and Kevin. Another friend of ours, Feras, has been yenta-ing the two of us in ways that would make old jewish women weep and smile. And we’ve certainly discussed dating … to death. And Feras shows up with us, and we are the topic again. But, I get ahead of myself …
On the way up from training, I see I have a message – it’s Sean. He’s called from Australia. Melt. Bonus points.
We go into the Midnight Sun, against my better judgement, and people start showing up. My friend Carlos shows up. He’s a pistol that one … 58 going on 21, and looks about 40. (We hate hur.) Then Feras shows up, Adi starts working the room like a $5 Hooker, and the game’s afoot. We’re *all* laughing, having a good time, meeting new people, introducing people to old friends and so on when … MEEGULL shows up.
I call him Meegull for a couple of reasons. One, he’s my ex from early last year, and pretty much played me then. He tried to pull it again over the summer when he wasn’t officially broken up from his boyfriend of the time. So, in short … he deserves a nickname. Plus, it reminds me of the way the bad gremlins talked in the movie Gremlins … “Deeeeee-gle. Deagle Deagle Deagle Deagle Deagle!”
I’ve seen him a lot lately. Meegull is a handsome young man, and he’s always with someone old enough to be my father. That’s fine, whatever floats his boat. So, I point him out to Adi, who takes one look and says, “Okay. SHEEEE needs to eat.” Okay … I squealed. Anyway, Meegull got pretty loaded, and next thing I know there’s a hand on my back. Okay, my flab. Whatever. To say that conversation was tense would be an understatement. And, I’ll be honest … it’s nice to have someone stalking you that way.
Speaking of stalkers, my Pez Dispenser Stalker, Richard was there, too. Richard is another tragically handsome man from the South, and age appropriate for me, which would thrill my friends … except … one night, we actually got friendly, and he turned into a Pez Dispenser … his head flopped back, his tongue shot out of his neck … it was freaky. I ran. He followed. He went back to the bar 3 times after I left, my friends told me, solely to find me. Now, me scared …
Adi and friends wanted to go to the Sadlands (Badlands). I was able to escape the evening shortly thereafter – unscathed largely, again, the sober one of my party. I got home MUCH later than planned, and crashed after a bit of chat. I talked up Pink Saturday, and hoped people would come say hi at the gate.
Of course, I wound up doing security, not gate, and no one was looking for me at the dance area. My friend Christian, was dancing about 50 feet away from me – we never saw each other. Another chatter, Punk* walked right by me, and didn’t recognize me. Adi and troupe found me, but they were pretty much the only ones.
Then I saw Jase. Jase is not a tall guy, but I recognized him right away. We met chatting in 2007, and he lives outside the Bay Area. I couldn’t remember anything but his chat name, and I wasn’t going to run into the street in my dayglo orange yelling “DieX! DieX!” No. He was leading this tall, handsome man down the street … and I have to say, they made a stunning couple. I must also say … and here my friends will just rollllll their eyes because of the differences between us, but … Jase is very handsome in his photos, but absolutely stunning in person. He’s warm and friendly when chatting. I’d date him in a heartbeat (I should be so lucky).
If I have one regret from Saturday, it’s not saying hi to Jase in person.
One of the men working for the Sisters came over to say hi. White dude, close to my age. Very sexy. I remember his “stage name,” but I’m blank on the rest. It was friendly, and I was actually being a bit of a flirt when Adi came over and TOTALLY cock-blocked me. See, Adi kisses people, and then says they aren’t REAL kisses. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
After the Pink Party, I got to say a few more hellos, and then reconnected with Kevin and Adi. Adi was nearly obliterated. He rode home in the cab with his head out the window like a Labrador. To his credit, he was a nice obliterated person.
I got up the next morning, Adi made breakfast, and I rolled out to my gig guarding the Zen Center float. I met very nice people there, and when I looked up to my right, another chatter, Hero* was there with the Genentech contingent. I never got a chance to chat with him, but it was fun to see him in person. I looked up ahead, and my old friend Carlos was on the float as Carla. We hadn’t spoken in years, but he recognized me right away, and even remembered my name. His partner was there, and it was lovely catching up with him. A few floats back, Cowboy Tony was marching. When we finally got rolling, I saw many people I knew, including Ricko – he was a safety monitor en route. We got through the Parade, I grabbed money, and headed into the festival.
I saw Raj there, but never got a chance to speak with him as he was on a mission when I saw him. Drat! Now I have to do something, like, say hello via email. Sheesh!
Then we ran into Ernie … aka Mia Casa. I’d only learned that Ernie was doing drag two weeks earlier, and there he was, as Mia Casa. It was a trip. My friends Patrick and … ugh … I just blanked on the name … were there, too, in support. We walked some more, and finally ran into THE Woman.
Claire … I hope I’m spelling her name right. I just adore Claire. Grand Black Woman(tm), who is sweet and gorgeous and funny. Yet, when I told her how I got dumped earlier this year (by email), girl wanted to get in a car and drive south to “tell” Marco about it. She’s no shrinking violet, that one. And I love her to death. I kissed *one* girl (sorry, Katy Perry), and it was her. Maybe I’ll add a photo of that.
I ran out of steam not long after. Adi was stopping at every booth, and I was losing my mind. I was dead tired, and decided to split for a while. The fog came in, and after walking past the naked guys from the dinner party the night before (they were naked again, and posing with tourists), I ran into Adi and Kevin, and they were ready to head out, too. We left, I grabbed my stuff, caught the bus (where I woke myself up with my own snoring 3 times), and came home to chat a bit.
Thummp3r* and WE* were online, along with other buddies, like Dr. Bill. I’d had such a draining, but good weekend … it was fun to just sit and chat. Then I logged off, thought about Sean for a bit, and passed out dead.
Who knows if we’ll work, but will you get home already, Sean? Let’s find out.
It was a good weekend. I’ll do it again next year. Maybe, just a little bit differently, though. We’ll see.
P.S. “Names” with an * are chat handle names.
