Recovering From The Big, Wet, Furry Weekend

FRIDAY: For some strange reason, we decided to go to Titan for "Woof Friday" happy hour. So, we called up the Bowie Cub and asked him if he was gonna be there. He said that he would be there for a while, but he had a party to go to later on. So, we headed down to D.C. This was only our second time at Titan. We suburbian dudes don't get out enough. I can understand city guys getting tired of it though. Sometimes places lose their newness. We had a good time though and saw a few familiar faces including Jimbo who imparted to us some last minute advice about the tubing trip. "The snakes are on the outside of the river by the riverbank, so we'll just stay on the inside of the river." (Snakes?!? Bubala said there wouldn't be any snakes!) And, Carl answered my fears about banjo music (we were going to be very close to West Virginia, after all) with a "You wish, honey!"

I saw Bob at Titan and told him how much I'm liking the new Blowoff CD that we downloaded from iTunes. He told me that I should join a bowling league. (Yeah, I know. I didn't see the connection either...)

I also ran in to this guy that I had met previously at a party thrown by our friends, Tim & Donn. This guy is really smart, and nice to talk to. I learned that he also likes to talk with his hands though, if you know what I mean. As I became more and more sweaty from being in the crowded bar with poor ventilation, he kindly wiped the sweat from my hairy back and said, "You know what? I'm not going to wash this hand right now. I'm going to save it for later." Okay, man... that's fine. It's his hand. He can do what he wants to with it.

I also saw my friend Steve who is always so friendly and welcoming. During our conversation, he handed me a business card that said "Chris and Paul's 3rd Annual End Of Summer Bear Bash (Manjamas Optional)" Steve said to me, "You should go. It's close to you." I showed the card to Bowie Cub who in turn whipped out his own invitation card and said, "I got one too. Let's go together." Even though I had no idea what manjamas were, I decided to go anyway.

SATURDAY: You can read what we did on Saturday here. I had a great time also. It was a good opportunity to hang out with some of the other blogger folks and their friends and partners. Usually, we only see these guys at Blowoff where there is a wall of sound around us and communication is difficult. Because of the nature of what we were doing though (tubing down the Potomac River) we were forced to interact with each other in a way that we wouldn't normally, and I liked that. It even drew yours truly, "The Anti-Social Butterfly" out of my cocoon for a bit. It was great to hang out and talk with Jimbo who I hope felt more comfortable with us hairy monkeys then with those hairless aliens on his previous trip down the river. Tos was so smart and a great conversationalist, and I really felt comfortable talking with him. The best part to me though was that we finally got to hang out with Durban Bud, and he was looking really HOT!

SUNDAY: We went grocery shopping early and then the Bowie Cub came over. We all went over to this bear party in Columbia together. We didn't know most of the people at the party except for a few familiar faces. They all made us feel more than comfortable even though when we walked in I wasn't so sure if all of these bigger, hairy bears would like us skinny, hairy monkeys hanging around them. There were a few awkward moments as we sized each other up, but eventually the bears accepted us. It was a pool party with an inground pool with a connecting hot tub, so we got in the pool and got wet. I think as some of the other guys started talking to us, they all started to realize that we monkeys were not a threat. We had some great food and sat around in the hot tub/pool for a while talking. I got to know my friend Steve a little better. I really enjoy talking to other gay men especially those in relationships like me. I like find out how they make it work or just how they feel in general living life as a gay man in a predominantly straight world.

Someone (who shall remain nameless) who was at this party (and it wasn't Bubala) unexpectedly pulled me into the pool. I landed on my middle toe on my left foot and bruised it up a little and it started bleeding and wouldn't stop. Imagine that. Here I was tubing down the Potomac River with all those sharp, jagged rocks just under the surface and I don't get a scratch on me. And then I get pulled into a swimming pool and my toe won't stop bleeding. Oh well, it was a good reason to have a few more cocktails and sit in the hot tub with the wet and the furry.