Le tourbillon social

Who knew that announcing my return to Society after a half year of woe and hibernation would have such an effect? It's as if crashing in on Rubeus and Ottr shook something loose in the gayniverse. I was relieved that Nuphy never returned my call Thursday night, since after discussing the fallout from ending those two plus years of avoidance at length and then doing the same for grunter, I'm not sure I had the vim to go through it all a third time.

So instead I ended up giving him a brief rundown on Friday night. By then, I had heard from Coleman, who wanted to drag me off to Bear Sauna the next; from gopower, who wanted me to view apartments with him; from Dale, who wanted to go out to dinner next week; and--most unexpectedly of all--from Despina, who wanted to meet up when he's in town for the Candy Expo. Oh, and my coworker Burlyman stopped by to offer me a ride home for the first time in forever, inviting me on the way to accompany him to Bearracuda.

[pauses for breath]

I said "No" to Coleman, "Yes" to gopower, suggested Saturday night to Dale, let Despina know that we'll be in Toronto that week, and told Burlyman that I'm still on Tanzverbot and had plans to go to Big Gay Bear Big Gay Game Night anyway. The calls I need to make were hanging over my head, but I only really felt up to a brief chat with Nuphy, who had actually gotten an e-mail from ottr4bear suggesting a joint birthday celebration for him and Rubeus like we used to do back in den guten alten Zeiten. (Not that he expects anything to come of it--he's as baffled as the rest of us by ottr4bear's hostility and revision of history.)

So, Saturday I was out of the house at the crack of noon (CST) to meet gopower for brunch at M. Henrietta. (If you've eaten at M. Henry before, then you know what to expect from this place--right down to the decor and the half-hour wait for a table.) To my surprise, one of the two places he was scheduled to see was the same old dog on Balmoral monshu and I had viewed three years ago. They had repaired a gaping hole in the bathroom, otherwise it was the same half-finished ruin we'd toured, just sans renters. Afterwards, I brought him back to the house for a calming cocktail at monshu's suggestion.

Maybe the martini I had was just a little strong, since I managed to forget my phone at home. This naturally set off a panic which had me convinced I had lost until I found the presence of mind to call the GWO and have him check. Of course, by now I'd made myself late for my dinner date. When I rushed into Sun Wah, I found Dale the very picture of indulgent understanding, but he had already wrought his revenge by ordering the single most boring thing on the menu. (Soy-sauce chicken, really? WE COULD'VE BEEN EATING SUCKLING PIG YOU LITTLE SHIT.)

Ahem.

The logic of meeting in Little Saigon is that the site of BGBBGGN this month was a duplex-down on Argyle mere steps from Furama. (At first, I was wondering How was this not on the list of places our realtor showed us? Then I realised it was in a six-unit condo.) If anything, it was even more tremendous than the month before. Not only did I know more people, but I made sure to make some time to socialise before jumping into a game.

But the biggest factor was the layout. SquareBear has a wonderful place, but the open plan is a minus when you've got four different games going on in the same room--some of them quite boisterous--plus ordinary party chit-chat at the drinks station. With that in mind, I gravitated to the front room, where I could hear myself think and could banter without yelling. (I blame the booze and the tiredness for all my obscenity-laden trash-talking, by the way.)

( Read all about what we played. )

I was so exhausted at this point, I nearly fell asleep on the couch waiting for the next game session to start, but I was having too much fun to even think about leaving. Marching through the unseasonable cold to catch a bus afterward, it occurred to me that I could not conceive of how Bearracuda could possibly have been more fun than the evening I had. It can't be another month until the next one, can it?

Oh, well; it's not like I won't have plenty to keep me busy in the meantime!