(no subject)

5000

Same procedure as every year

This morning at Walgreen's, I witnessed a textbook example of the Midwestern brand of passive-aggressiveness I was telling the Jameses about on Saturday. The checkout clerk, an elderly White lady, was already on my bad side after condescendingly explaining to a Hispanic woman how important it was that she learn her own phone number (which she failed to input correctly in order to access loyalty benefits). Then I was up and got a little sticker shock from the price of the antidiarrhoeal, which led me to remark on how expensive it was. "If you had a Walgreen's card it might've been less expensive." Except neither it nor the granola bar I purchased were on sale, and I said as much. "Well, it's your choice," she replied, in the same way a Southerner might say "Bless your heart!"

The Jameses leave tomorrow, and they will be missed. Irish James goes way back with the Derryman across the street. I'm not sure how long he and English James have been together, but it's in the range of two decades. They live in James' nan's house in Ipswich next to an old psychiatric hospital where she used to work. Until his grandfather improved the gate, patients used to wander into the garden in search of her. Currently, there's a new facility adjoining the grounds which is just one step down in security from Broadmoor.

This was one of the stories we got out of him when they came over on Saturday (ostensibly "for drinks", even though they take nothing stronger than Diet Coke). This was something of a make-up session for the Old Man, who left early the time the neighbours had us over for cocktails near the beginning of their stay because he couldn't hear anything in the din. We also took the opportunity to hand over the wristbands from our visit to the Leather Mart that morning, which they apparently successfully used to gain admission yesterday. (They had intended to visit on Friday but balked at the entrance fee.)

The Leather Mart was weirdly laid out, but then the Congress is a weird choice of a hotel for IML. After seeing it himself on Friday, monshu was struck by how "dowdy" it was. There's nothing comparable to the huge exhibition spaces of the Hyatt Regency so the vendors were even more spread out than at the Marriot, divided up between two larger rooms and a half dozen smaller ones. We didn't see anything new or exciting this year, but with the bad layout it was a bit hard to be sure.

Spread out and weirdly sliced up is a metaphor for IML/Bear Pride weekend in general. As an old acquaintance complained at Cellblock on Saturday, "The only things people come together for any more are the Early Bird Party and Monday at Sidetrack." Which are, not coincidentally, the only events I make a point of hitting any more. (I was on the strip that day to convince myself I wasn't really missing anything and I did; except for running into mikiedoggie at Replay, it was a total bust.)

Awkwardly, I ran into Rubeus twice over the weekend, the second time in the company of ottr4bear. (The first time, he was lying low at Sidetrack while his partner skulked at Steamworks.) It's not just us and Nuphy; he essentially admitted to abandoning all their own friends in favour of hanging out with this new band of North Shore bears. I met a couple and they seemed like decent enough guys, but I guess I'll never really find out because a couple minutes of chat earned me the stinkeye from o4b and who needs that nonsense?

Other than that not much of the old guard in evidence, which freed me up to meet some darling newcomers. I explained to one such fresh-faced visitor from the backwoods of LA that I depend on their enthusiasm to refresh my jaded spirit. "I've just siphoned away a tiny bit of your soul," I explained after my second g'n't, "but, don't worry, you'll never notice." However, the downside was a lack of esprit in the main room. It never really got full and if people were joining in the call-and-response, it wasn't evident from within the room, let alone outside of it.