You never want to see the sun go down! (Yes it's a Bryan Adam's song, but I prefer the techno version, natch!).
OMG! (as the kids say) I'm just having an AMAZING time here in Ptown. Unless I get hit by a car, this will probably rank up there as one of the best vacations I've had in a long time. For example, take yesterday . . . .
I got up and wandered over to Frappo66 for breakfast and then plugged in my laptop to look at some work email, check the blogs, etc. Afterwards, I packed up and headed to the beach around 1030. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the breeze felt amazing as I biked to the trail head. I popped my headphones on and started to hike across the tidal flats listening to my tunes. It's a 15-20 minute hike across the flats (when there is little/no water), and without the breeze it would have been brutal, but with the breeze it felt amazing. I make my way to the dune ridge that separates the tidal flats from the beach and the ocean. Climb up and over the dunes and find my spot on the beach. I've been going to a certain spot all week where I lay down the blue bomber (my old USNA breadspread), slather on the sunscreen, and then lay down to soak in the sun as the wind races by. Again, without the wind, I would have melted to death, but the breeze kept it cool, and kept the bugs away. The winds also helped kick up the surf. The usual gentle ocean waves slowly rolling onto the beach were gone, replaced by white caps and decent size waves crashing onto the beach with a dull roar. After several changes of position (back, stomach, back, stomach), I get up and head into the water. I've been brave this trip and every day I've gone into the bracing cold water of the North Atlantic. It still stung a bit, but I was more worried about not getting bowled over by the crashing waves. I made my way past the break and then played that game where you jump up as the wave approaches so you float above the crest to keep your head dry. Soo much fun and I didn't even mind the cold water. I slowly trudge out of the surf and make my way to my spot collapsing and letting the sun warm me up and dry me off. It felt so go to be out there on the beach that I stayed out there till almost 3PM. Then it was time for the hike back across the flats, the bike ride into town, grabbing a sandwich for lunch, a quick shower and change and then T-dance. Well at the T dance they were goingf to be filming an episode of Samantha Brown's Passport to Great Weekends. And her guide for Ptown was none other than Ms. Richfiled 1981. Luv her! So there was a little bit of fun and excitement to the T dance in addition to the great music.
Oh, t-shirt update: - Do Me, Not Meth. - The Only Thing I Recycle Is Boys - Pride Ruins Most Relationships
Then after T, I rested a bit and then went to see a show. I went to see Jackie Beat. And she was hilarious! Just too funny. After that, it was time to go out again.
So almost a perfect day.
Today I'm doing something a little bit different. I'm going to go to the beach late and stay for sunset. I've never done that before so I'm looking forward to it. It means I've got to give up the T Dance, but that's the price I'll have to pay. I've already done my gift shopping and today I went out and bought a whole bunch of age inappropriate clothing. Of course, I keep getting told that I look like I'm barely 30 (which I must thank good lighting for!), so maybe it's not that age inappropriate.
It happened again. Oh the flight up to Boston was fine. Caught the water taxi. Got on the ferry. Opened up the laptop and started doing work. I've got a ton of things to do this week despite the fact that I'll be in Ptown. But the seas were a bit rough and after awhile trying to do work on the laptop wasn't going to happen. So I closed the laptop and went up front, to the outside deck. As the wind whipped around me on a sunny summer afternoon, as I held on the metal bar for dear life as the deck bounced up and down and all around, as I watched the families, and couples (gay and straight), and everyone else strain their eyes to catch the first glimpse of Ptown, I felt all of my dreary, boring, repetitive life drain away. All of my cares and worries just blew away, forced out of my mind as the wind screamed around me. I've felt it before, but it feels new every time. For some reason coming to Ptown feels like coming home. And as that feeling started to spread throughout my body, I started to smile. I started to bounce with the rolling deck. I started to turn my face to the sun and feel it's warm embrace. And it felt good.
I've already settled into my Ptown routine. Get up late (9ish), have a light breakfast. Then poolside (beach tomorrow!) at the Boatslip till about 3PM. A late lunch and a change of attire before the T-Dance. Dance until I'm dripping with sweat and *have* to take my shirt off at the T-Dance. Then it's back to my room for a shower and another change of attire. Then it's off to wander the streets and bars looking for love (or lust, or something in between). I do have some shows I want to go see. One by her. (totally NSFW but funny as hell!) Plus Ms. Ritchfield 1981!
Oh, porn star sighting #2. He was just hanging out on the street. I talked with the guys at my guest house and apparently he's in a show here, plus he works at the Gay Men's Clinic.
So the 4th here was great. DJ Mary Alice does an extended T Dance set and I think I'm now officially old/crippled, but it was just a blast. Lots of great songs! The fireworks were awesome also! Today all of the twinks should be leaving. The 4th of July weekend is the big SummerCamp circuit party here in Ptown. So lots of tweaked out twinks, plus a bunch of muscle marys sharing their weightlifting secrets and how many cycles of steriods they've done. Not really being judgemental, just a bit jealous. But they should all slowly slip out of town and then it will be quiet until the bears start to arrive next weekend. This really is the best week for me. I start off in circuit week feeling old and fat and then I end up in Bear Week feeling young and thin! Well, thin-ish!
Don't Panic! has closed, but I did see some great t-shirts:
- Gurl! You Ain't a Top! (actually I saw that in NYC last weekend) - Think Long and Hard (great double entendree!) - Please Let Me Know If I've Slept With You Before
Oh, so a question for general discussion: If the tatoo on the lower back of a girl is called a "tramp stamp", what's it called when it's on a gay guy? Calling it a tramp stamp would be redundant right? Discuss amongst yourselves!
Oh, and here's a song from that DJ Mary Alice played that I love!
The flight back to DC from Hawaii was okay. I upgrade to business class which made it bearable. Nothing like a 2 hour storm delay in Chicago to make your day. I left Hawaii @ 8PM on Friday and got back to my place @ 8PM on Saturday. Good times.
Sunday AM and I metro-ed to Union Station and caught one of the regional trains to NYC. Museum Man met me there and the first thing I did was find some cold medicine. I had started to get a runny nose and I could feel a sore throat coming. Again good times. NYC was fun. I rode the subway for the first time. It's pretty easy I guess. Dodging the rain (or attempting to atleast) we went down to the Pride Parade which was just insane. Even with the miserable weather it was just fabulous. So many people out, everyone having a good time. It was great. After the parade, we started making our way over to the piers, stopping by the Dugout for a quick beer. The Dugout is a bear bar I've heard about from Joe.My.God. It was packed. And in a bad way. We had one drink and the motored on. After walking through a very strange and loud crowd of young blatino lesbians and their admirers, we actually ran into Joe, also heading for the Pier Dance. The Pier Dance did rock! Lots of great music and lots of hot, hot, hot men. Oh, I saw my porn star "friend" again. Again, which is no surprise really. I think every A list gay in NYC was at the Pier Dance. The surprise guest was Jennifer Hudson and needless to say the gays were shrieking like little girls. She sang three songs including "I'm No Going" which really rocked the pier. We stayed for the fireworks which were pretty cool and then trekked into mid-town to find a late night bite to eat. After a taxi detour, we made our way to the Saint-At-Large party at it's *new* location! Apparently on Friday the cops had raided the original location and shut it down, so the producers of the even jumped through hoops to find a new space. And they did. A fabulous space that I thought they decorated pretty well. At 1230AM when we got there it was just getting started. Well after dancing on concrete for 5 hours, I needed a little rest, so we sat and listened to the music and watched the hot men for awhile. We did hear one good song, surprisingly by Mariah Carey. But then we left around 2AM when I decided that I did need a little sleep. And a little sleep is what I got as I woke up at 445AM to take the subway back to Penn Station to catch the 0605AM train back to DC.
So in addition to just being tired, I'm also sick as a dog at this point. I've got a full on cold, aches, pains, you name it. So my work week has been kind of crappy. I feel a bit better, but still . . .
Well I'm off to Ptown for my annual pilgrimage.
Here's the Mariah Carey song. Sort of mellow in a good trancy/loungey kind of way:
