Mar. 6th, 2023 11:27 am
Fabulous weekend
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muckefuckTerrific weekend all around, even if it did once again revolve a lot around drinking.
This actually started Thursday night since a friend was celebrating a change of employment at Jackie's. I ended up staying out later than I meant to because one of our mutuals (the man who introduced us, in fact) had rehearsal and ended up not arriving until after 11. Fortunately I ran into an acquaintance from Anvil and we had a really nice chat about reading while I was waiting for him to arrive.
Friday I had a catch-up lunch with my favourite Chilean, who took me along on a trip to doggy daycare and then to lunch across the street at Spacca Napoli, my favourite pizza place. I agonised to him a bit about my issues navigating the gay social scene and he was--as always--very patient and supportive.
That evening our friends Brendan and Josh hosted a gathering at their place. I love Brendan's style of hospitality. It's so welcoming and generous I have to remind myself he's not a Southerner. The two of them made a gigantic pot of congee and assembled a bar of add-ins such as marinated tofu, fried mushrooms, and something new to me called "olive vegetable" (橄欖菜), a combination of pickled Chinese olives and mustard greens that Brendan described as "pure MSG".
There was also good conversation (plus a little cuddling), so--despite my best intentions--I ended up staying out till something like 2 a.m. This made for a rough Saturday, as as well as being tired I also had some tummy trouble that wrecked my anus and made me kind of grouchy all day. Fortunately I'd done some cleaning the weekend before andclintswan jumped in after his nap to help so there wasn't a crunch to get the place ready.
It may have been the most successful one of the year so far, despite the absence of BB and a couple other regulars. I had several first-timers, but this being Chicago one turned out to be a coworker of one my of my regular guests and there may have been some other connexions that I missed. I had to do a little more mixing than usual, so it was once again Clint to the rescue, answering the door and getting folks settled so I didn't have to keep running out of the kitchen.
Just after midnight, he peaced out and scooted over to the bar. I came over not much later. (SquareBear and Kayla graciously stuck around and helped me tidy up, with the later waiting for me to change so we could walk over together.) I finally managed to have the conversation I wanted to with Kayla about getting counseling for his PTSD and we made an interesting friend down in the hole, but the highlight of the evening was seeing my new crush.
I'm going to call him Big Chick because he first came to my attention as a doorman as Big Chicks, my regular bar when I lived in Uptown. I don't recall ever having a conversation with him back then, but I was familiar enough that I thought nothing of casually addressing him by name outside SoFo sometime last fall. At the time, I remember being taken aback by his friendly reception (he didn't remember me, but he seemed chuffed to be remembered); he went so far as to add me on social media, but I really didn't think much of it.
All of that changed two weeks ago when I ran into him at the tail-end of a crazy evening that began at Farragut's, escalated at SoFo's Onesie Night (where I did something I would normally only have done at Touché), and inevitably ended up at Jax. I came over and started a conversation about music and before I knew it he was telling me he just wanted to find some place to make out with me. "How about my house?" I suggested and took him home.
It was wonderful--so much, in fact, that I focused on playing it cool and avoided messaging him. I did suggest we meet for dinner but didn't follow up when he didn't follow through. Then the next weekend, when I was at home getting over a sore throat and feeling sorry for myself, I tried again and we made a dinner date for Thursday at Anna Maria which went extremely well. So when my Sunday game was cancelled, I offered him that afternoon and he accepted.
So now here we are at last Saturday and he shows up after his shift at Chicks with a new clutch of pals just as I'm deciding it's time I headed home. One of them wanted to hit on me, however, so he insisted on buying me a drink "so I can keep you here". I humoured him, but really I only had eyes for BC, who was as charming and affection as that night two weeks back. There's no question that if we hadn't made plans already we'd've been back in bed together.
I came home on a cloud, so I guess it was inevitable that I'd wake up to rain: He texted me about 1 pm to cancel, saying he needed to prepare for a job interview the next day. It was a legit excuse--he'd talked a fair bit at dinner about the new position he hoped to be offered--but I was bummed of course (though cushioned by the highly-successful cocktail night).
I considered taking my copy of Rushdie's Victory City to the sun-flooded front room and finishing it while I rehydrated, but then my pals reached out and convinced me to join them at SoFo for daydrinking. I wasn't that eager to go drinking for a fourth day in a row, but I really wanted my friends around so I agreed.
It was a great choice. The bar was a bit crowded initially, but there was some sun on the patio so we met up there, alternating between outside and a table in the back once it got a bit chillier. My Hispanic Twin told me I was manifesting "Big Daddy Energy" because I was getting flirted with from all sides.
At one point, I was outside chatting with four or five pals when a gorgeous Punjabi man stepped out and immediately came up to us. He draped an arm around me and hit us up for cigarettes, but when it turned out that none of his smoked, he left it there and stayed to chat. He was an oncologist in town just for the weekend and I did my best to sell him on a return trip to Chicago in summer.
By now it was getting late and I was getting hungry so I traipsed up the block to Cuckoo and had dinner with Benty, Kayla, and another pal. As we left, the bus came along with perfect timing and swept me back home, which was for the best since otherwise I might have been tempted to return to the bar. Instead, I capped it in the best way--dishing with friends--and was able to sober up completely before bedtime.
This actually started Thursday night since a friend was celebrating a change of employment at Jackie's. I ended up staying out later than I meant to because one of our mutuals (the man who introduced us, in fact) had rehearsal and ended up not arriving until after 11. Fortunately I ran into an acquaintance from Anvil and we had a really nice chat about reading while I was waiting for him to arrive.
Friday I had a catch-up lunch with my favourite Chilean, who took me along on a trip to doggy daycare and then to lunch across the street at Spacca Napoli, my favourite pizza place. I agonised to him a bit about my issues navigating the gay social scene and he was--as always--very patient and supportive.
That evening our friends Brendan and Josh hosted a gathering at their place. I love Brendan's style of hospitality. It's so welcoming and generous I have to remind myself he's not a Southerner. The two of them made a gigantic pot of congee and assembled a bar of add-ins such as marinated tofu, fried mushrooms, and something new to me called "olive vegetable" (橄欖菜), a combination of pickled Chinese olives and mustard greens that Brendan described as "pure MSG".
There was also good conversation (plus a little cuddling), so--despite my best intentions--I ended up staying out till something like 2 a.m. This made for a rough Saturday, as as well as being tired I also had some tummy trouble that wrecked my anus and made me kind of grouchy all day. Fortunately I'd done some cleaning the weekend before and
clintswan jumped in after his nap to help so there wasn't a crunch to get the place ready.It may have been the most successful one of the year so far, despite the absence of BB and a couple other regulars. I had several first-timers, but this being Chicago one turned out to be a coworker of one my of my regular guests and there may have been some other connexions that I missed. I had to do a little more mixing than usual, so it was once again Clint to the rescue, answering the door and getting folks settled so I didn't have to keep running out of the kitchen.
Just after midnight, he peaced out and scooted over to the bar. I came over not much later. (SquareBear and Kayla graciously stuck around and helped me tidy up, with the later waiting for me to change so we could walk over together.) I finally managed to have the conversation I wanted to with Kayla about getting counseling for his PTSD and we made an interesting friend down in the hole, but the highlight of the evening was seeing my new crush.
I'm going to call him Big Chick because he first came to my attention as a doorman as Big Chicks, my regular bar when I lived in Uptown. I don't recall ever having a conversation with him back then, but I was familiar enough that I thought nothing of casually addressing him by name outside SoFo sometime last fall. At the time, I remember being taken aback by his friendly reception (he didn't remember me, but he seemed chuffed to be remembered); he went so far as to add me on social media, but I really didn't think much of it.
All of that changed two weeks ago when I ran into him at the tail-end of a crazy evening that began at Farragut's, escalated at SoFo's Onesie Night (where I did something I would normally only have done at Touché), and inevitably ended up at Jax. I came over and started a conversation about music and before I knew it he was telling me he just wanted to find some place to make out with me. "How about my house?" I suggested and took him home.
It was wonderful--so much, in fact, that I focused on playing it cool and avoided messaging him. I did suggest we meet for dinner but didn't follow up when he didn't follow through. Then the next weekend, when I was at home getting over a sore throat and feeling sorry for myself, I tried again and we made a dinner date for Thursday at Anna Maria which went extremely well. So when my Sunday game was cancelled, I offered him that afternoon and he accepted.
So now here we are at last Saturday and he shows up after his shift at Chicks with a new clutch of pals just as I'm deciding it's time I headed home. One of them wanted to hit on me, however, so he insisted on buying me a drink "so I can keep you here". I humoured him, but really I only had eyes for BC, who was as charming and affection as that night two weeks back. There's no question that if we hadn't made plans already we'd've been back in bed together.
I came home on a cloud, so I guess it was inevitable that I'd wake up to rain: He texted me about 1 pm to cancel, saying he needed to prepare for a job interview the next day. It was a legit excuse--he'd talked a fair bit at dinner about the new position he hoped to be offered--but I was bummed of course (though cushioned by the highly-successful cocktail night).
I considered taking my copy of Rushdie's Victory City to the sun-flooded front room and finishing it while I rehydrated, but then my pals reached out and convinced me to join them at SoFo for daydrinking. I wasn't that eager to go drinking for a fourth day in a row, but I really wanted my friends around so I agreed.
It was a great choice. The bar was a bit crowded initially, but there was some sun on the patio so we met up there, alternating between outside and a table in the back once it got a bit chillier. My Hispanic Twin told me I was manifesting "Big Daddy Energy" because I was getting flirted with from all sides.
At one point, I was outside chatting with four or five pals when a gorgeous Punjabi man stepped out and immediately came up to us. He draped an arm around me and hit us up for cigarettes, but when it turned out that none of his smoked, he left it there and stayed to chat. He was an oncologist in town just for the weekend and I did my best to sell him on a return trip to Chicago in summer.
By now it was getting late and I was getting hungry so I traipsed up the block to Cuckoo and had dinner with Benty, Kayla, and another pal. As we left, the bus came along with perfect timing and swept me back home, which was for the best since otherwise I might have been tempted to return to the bar. Instead, I capped it in the best way--dishing with friends--and was able to sober up completely before bedtime.
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