Jun. 26th, 2018 03:58 pm
A Pride of beers
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muckefuckI did my usual self-indulgent bougie observation of Pride, i.e. Pride North. I did notice this year that some of the derogatory labels I've applied to it are less accurate than before. I actually saw a decent number of POC (though still not representative of the neighbourhood) and there were enough younger folks that one of my contemporaries complained of feeling "old".
Unfortunately, it's even more noticeable than in prior years how much it's being run as a for-profit venture. There was apparently some guff posted at the entry of a portion of profits benefiting the local farmers market, but I thought it particularly telling that the "suggested donation" was "waived" if you asked for an over-21 armband. The reason became obvious once you saw the prices for drinks, which started at $7 for a can of Old Style (i.e. half the price of an entire six-pack at the typical packie). I regretted not pre-gaming as I downed the double whiskey that I coasted on for the rest of the afternoon.
Fortunately, although this was a highlight of my weekend, it wasn't my focus. I wanted to see people and I did. Friday and Saturday I spent withbunj and his MIL, first at the Venezuelan place Uncle Betty introduced me to and then at Chez B&E in River North. It was a joy to be around them. The second night I felt comfortable enough around her to get into a spirited discussion of language policy in Spain; who knows how long it might've gone on had I not gotten a call from my neighbour that I'd left my front door ajar.
Saturday I was supposed to go the big bear picnic in my 'hood but I got distracted by an unexpected visit from Liver Ladoo, someone I met at HiBearNation. He was too minor to even make it into my summary but cute enough that I noticed him the first day and (in a curious reversion) was too intimidated to talk to until the final evening when he approached me on the dance floor. We chatted enough to determine each other was more than a pretty face and left FB Friends. He waited until Wednesday to tell me he was coming so I had to squeeze him in somewhere.
The original idea was to take him with to the picnic but I wanted to be sure I had a chance to nail him so I brought him to my place first and somehow we never made it to the beach. I really wished I could take him to dinner on Devon so we arranged to meet again Monday night. He went to the Pride Parade the next day while I was doing chores and I tried to get him to meet me at Pride North afterwards but we failed to connect. His buddy dragged him to Touché afterwards so I decided to stop by for a nightcap. And there's where it got weird.
So his friend was cute and--I quickly discovered--conversational in German, so we began chatting away. After a while, he went to check out the backroom and LL encouraged me to follow. Almost immediately, he was on his knees blowing me. LL wandered back and noticed us. I'd had a couple of tokes at Pride North so I didn't even notice how pissy he became afterwards. The friend was trying to get us to visit a couple pals who lived nearby; these turned out to be guys I knew and I was so amused that I volunteered to tag along despite still hoping for an early bedtime.
I should have known that what was on offer was more than just a drink, but, again, I wasn't at my sharpest. I was just trying to go with the flow, which naturally led to the bedroom and any number of awkward moments, all of which I was semi-oblivious to: one of the hosts was miffed no one was paying attention to him, LL was miffed his friend was paying too much attention to me, and his friend was miffed that I couldn't finish with all that was going on around us.
I left them in the parking lot adjoining Touché. The next morning, a still-upset Liver Ladoo informed me that they'd stood there arguing for an hour afterwards. I'll admit, it's a novel and somewhat heady feeling to have two men fight over me and though I wasn't happy that he was so put out, I recognised that it was his own thing to work through. Because he's a grown-up, he did, and we talked it through chez moi the next evening after rendezvousing at the beach where he introduced me to two friends from the 'burbs who I'd also met even more fleetingly at HiBearNation. *exhales*
I was glad that he enjoyed Mysore Woodlands (or at least was polite enough to say so) and that we got some more cuddle time in afterwards. He wants me to visit him in Portland so much he even offered to fly me out, though with what degree of sincerity I couldn't exactly say. I find him more intellectually compatible than Ginger Farmboy (and I love the way we spar with one another), but not as attractive, so there's a lot more fun we could have together if the fates allow.
The funny thing is that the whole dust-up on Sunday night could have been avoided if all had simply gone to plan since I'd originally had a date planned for Sunday night with the Thin Man, that guy from three years ago who I'd run into at Sidetrack a month earlier. But he came down with a sinus infection and that changed everything.
Unfortunately, it's even more noticeable than in prior years how much it's being run as a for-profit venture. There was apparently some guff posted at the entry of a portion of profits benefiting the local farmers market, but I thought it particularly telling that the "suggested donation" was "waived" if you asked for an over-21 armband. The reason became obvious once you saw the prices for drinks, which started at $7 for a can of Old Style (i.e. half the price of an entire six-pack at the typical packie). I regretted not pre-gaming as I downed the double whiskey that I coasted on for the rest of the afternoon.
Fortunately, although this was a highlight of my weekend, it wasn't my focus. I wanted to see people and I did. Friday and Saturday I spent with
bunj and his MIL, first at the Venezuelan place Uncle Betty introduced me to and then at Chez B&E in River North. It was a joy to be around them. The second night I felt comfortable enough around her to get into a spirited discussion of language policy in Spain; who knows how long it might've gone on had I not gotten a call from my neighbour that I'd left my front door ajar.Saturday I was supposed to go the big bear picnic in my 'hood but I got distracted by an unexpected visit from Liver Ladoo, someone I met at HiBearNation. He was too minor to even make it into my summary but cute enough that I noticed him the first day and (in a curious reversion) was too intimidated to talk to until the final evening when he approached me on the dance floor. We chatted enough to determine each other was more than a pretty face and left FB Friends. He waited until Wednesday to tell me he was coming so I had to squeeze him in somewhere.
The original idea was to take him with to the picnic but I wanted to be sure I had a chance to nail him so I brought him to my place first and somehow we never made it to the beach. I really wished I could take him to dinner on Devon so we arranged to meet again Monday night. He went to the Pride Parade the next day while I was doing chores and I tried to get him to meet me at Pride North afterwards but we failed to connect. His buddy dragged him to Touché afterwards so I decided to stop by for a nightcap. And there's where it got weird.
So his friend was cute and--I quickly discovered--conversational in German, so we began chatting away. After a while, he went to check out the backroom and LL encouraged me to follow. Almost immediately, he was on his knees blowing me. LL wandered back and noticed us. I'd had a couple of tokes at Pride North so I didn't even notice how pissy he became afterwards. The friend was trying to get us to visit a couple pals who lived nearby; these turned out to be guys I knew and I was so amused that I volunteered to tag along despite still hoping for an early bedtime.
I should have known that what was on offer was more than just a drink, but, again, I wasn't at my sharpest. I was just trying to go with the flow, which naturally led to the bedroom and any number of awkward moments, all of which I was semi-oblivious to: one of the hosts was miffed no one was paying attention to him, LL was miffed his friend was paying too much attention to me, and his friend was miffed that I couldn't finish with all that was going on around us.
I left them in the parking lot adjoining Touché. The next morning, a still-upset Liver Ladoo informed me that they'd stood there arguing for an hour afterwards. I'll admit, it's a novel and somewhat heady feeling to have two men fight over me and though I wasn't happy that he was so put out, I recognised that it was his own thing to work through. Because he's a grown-up, he did, and we talked it through chez moi the next evening after rendezvousing at the beach where he introduced me to two friends from the 'burbs who I'd also met even more fleetingly at HiBearNation. *exhales*
I was glad that he enjoyed Mysore Woodlands (or at least was polite enough to say so) and that we got some more cuddle time in afterwards. He wants me to visit him in Portland so much he even offered to fly me out, though with what degree of sincerity I couldn't exactly say. I find him more intellectually compatible than Ginger Farmboy (and I love the way we spar with one another), but not as attractive, so there's a lot more fun we could have together if the fates allow.
The funny thing is that the whole dust-up on Sunday night could have been avoided if all had simply gone to plan since I'd originally had a date planned for Sunday night with the Thin Man, that guy from three years ago who I'd run into at Sidetrack a month earlier. But he came down with a sinus infection and that changed everything.
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