Wednesday, October 29, 2003

Reports from the Wedding, etc.
The trip back home was interesting. The week started off quite innocently but ended with a bang. I left Calgary on Friday night and ended up in Saskatoon around 11:30. Tara was home and let me in, however Grant was out partying and didn't get home until 2:30. He had to work in the morning so he went to bed. I didn't hear him get up, however I left before Tara got up. I tried to exchange my rental at Avis at the S'toon Airport but it was too much of a hassle so I continued my trek east. Next stop, Kamsack.
I got to Mark and Tracy's mid-afternoon. Tracy and I sat in the living room and talked all afternoon. Mark got home from class in S'toon around 5:30. We began cooking a meal. They made a great BBQ with spiced chicken and pork, etc. We ended up the evening in their kickass hottub.
In the morning I got up had coffee with them and their neighbor. I got the bike together and rode from Kamsack to the Manitoba border and back (approx 65km). Once I got back and cleaned up I headed to Childs Lake. Mom/Dad had called in the morning and asked that I meet them at Britton's cabin for a fish fry. Got there around 8pm. Followed each other back to Grandview around 10pm.
The next few days are a blur. Monday night I went over to Lance and Buffy's. The Wilson's had a b-day party for the October Pulock's in the loft on the farm on Tuesday(?). I ran to town from the farm that afternoon and met up with Tannis and boys in the minivan and Dave and Ryan in the car on their way out to Wilson's - they both invited me. Run was approx 9 miles - 15km. Visited with Grandma for a few minutes before mom showed up and brought me home.
The next day I went to Dauphin. I had dinner plans at Liwiski's so showed up early to do some banking (Owen & Chloe's present), tried on my tux, and put the bike together again, this time riding from the north Park border road to the north shore of Clear Lake and back, approx. 100km.
Had a great visit with Dave, Nic, Andrew and Mark and their boarder, Marie-Eve from QC. Lots of laughs, etc.
I also worked out with the weights in the barn on Monday and Thursday. There was enough isolation that I wore my M.Stevens unitard on Monday and the grey M.Steven tights and UnderArmour shirt on Thursday. Marvelous.
By Thursday all of the relatives were showing up. This was also the morning Keith Dalgleish got into his anhydrous accident out in the field. Everything got really busy after this. Thursday night after getting home from wherever, Clinton, Kent, and Shalon showed up with the deep fryer for chicken wings on Friday. They sat in the shed with Dad and I until 2:30. After that Dad and I got into a deep drunken conversation about homosexuality and gay marriage that lasted until 5:30. I was angry about it initially, but now I see that both him and mom are making an effort to understand what's going on. Considering where they live, this may be all I can hope for. I was still very hurt by Dad's comments that he hated Joe for who he was (I still don't know whether they like him as a person or not), and the fact that he flat-out refused to come to my wedding someday if I ever decided to have one. Maybe in time this attitude will change as well.
The rehearsal was on Friday. The rehearsal party went back to the barn loft on the farm afterwards. Most people left in a reasonable time, but the hardcore people stayed up and got drunker until Eddie Wilson rolled into the yard with his truck and fifth wheel. Crap, I can't even remember who was all there - there was Lance, Owen, Cam, and who else????
Anyways, Saturday was the big day. The wedding went without a hitch; everything was perfect except for a bit of rain when we left the church, however everyone maintained their cool and Chloe looked like a princess, so that was all that mattered.
The wedding party were a bunch of boozepigs. Between the 12 of us and a few extra glasses of wine & champagne to the parents and Owen and Chloe, we managed to finish off 35 bottles of alcohol in the four hours between the ceremony and cocktails at the hall.
Michelle Wilson was my 'buddy' for the day. She was in the bathroom when the bridal party made their way into the hall. I had to wait for her and we walked in late, by ourselves. How embarrassing (funny)!
The dance flew by. I was feeling quite ill on Sunday because of the three-day boozefest beforehand, so in a way I was glad the week ended with a long drive to Saskatoon with Grant in tow. Very glad to be getting home, however sad now that holidays are over for 2003.
What else has been happening since then? I'm still trying to get back into full fall training mode - it's been a challenge....The weekend after the wedding was the Banff Ekiden Race. We had a lot of fun there and then spent some time at the Sulphur Mountain Hot Springs.
Last weekend was the "Midsummer Night's Dream" ballet at the Jubilee which may have been one of my favorites because of the humour in it and the flow of the storyline. Right after that we got home and got ready to go to Doug's Hallowe'en party. Fuck, it was a C-train ride to the end of the south line and still a $15 cab ride after that! Ridiculous. I can't really see going to another party down there again in the near future especially when we get there so late, all the food's eaten and most of the party's already left.
The "Ralph Klein Sux" curling team also had their debut on Saturday. We unfortunately lost 9-4.
This weekend coming up is Hallowe'en on Friday, and the Synergy Hootenany on Saturday. It's going to be a nightmare! I'm wearing a devil costume again on Friday with the red skinsuit, Joe is going as Dracula. Should be fun. I'm really looking forward to Saturday though. I've invited a shitload of people again, however it's hard to say who'll show up considering there are still a lot of Hallowe'en parties going on that night. The weather has also turned for the worse. We got 10cm of snow last night and the original weather forecast claimed a low of -24^C on Sat. night, although that's now been downplayed to a balmy -10 in comparison.
I'll update with the critique of the parties later.

Friday, October 03, 2003

Reports from the trip East:
We had a great time. Definitely wound up being the party vacation - next week will hopefully be the relaxing one! I'm heading to S'toon tonight and Kamsack tomorrow before rolling into GV on Sunday. I have to plan a two-day excursion to Dauphin. I'm hoping either to bike there and back with an overnight stay or do a day trip out and back to Wasagaming from Dauphin (the highway is better through the Park). Have to pick up the rental car at Avis after work today and FLY! I'm also missing Shawn and Jeanette's Jack and Jill party on Saturday night....another missed social engagement...
Saturday night, Sept. 20th. Met up with Greg and Marion at Spulombo's in Kensington for dinner. Had a great visit there and during intermission at the Ballet. They even gave us a ride home! 'The Four Seasons' started slow but became more and more active to the end. Ended up with a standing ovation - the first I've seen at the Jubilee. How could you not give Rex Harrington a standing ovation anyways - he's SO sexy! 'The Firebird' was what I would call a 'mega production'. The costumes were so flourishy and huge - colors flying everywhere. It was a great show, if only for the settings and costumes. No, the ballet itself was really good too, if not a bit complicated when there are 30 dancers on the stage at one time. We made it home, changed quickly and headed to Sean and Nancy's for the birthday party. Most people left as soon as we got there, around 11:30. The rest stayed until Nancy kicked us out around 1:30. Doug stayed the night at the apartment.
Flew into Toronto on Sept 21. Rented a car at Pearson and went to Bob's place. We got ready, stopped for dinner and drinks at a few places on College (Diplomatico and ???) and went to Lotus for the new 'Boys Life' night. very cool bar - crowd wasn't very big or beautiful. Apparently the crowd was MUCH improved on the 28th, according to Bob.
It rained all day Monday. Bob, Juan, Joe and I went for brunch at a greasy spoon in CabbageTown. Joe and I drove around town, just doing some sightseeing through the windows. We stopped at a comic book store, etc. among other places. Checked out the renovations at 5ive - Bob's brother is co-owner. I ran from Bob's place to the Lakeshore in the evening. Still raining - ripped up my nipples through the wet shirt. Next time I wore the UnderArmour lycra shirt underneath - much better *mental reminder*.
Monday night we hung around Bob's place with beer and Absolutely Fabulous.
Tuesday Bob, Joe and myself headed to Niagara Falls. Had a great day walking around. Bob and I went on the Maid of the Mist. Then we hopped in the car and did the Wine Country tour. Finally stopped at one Joe wanted to check out around 5:07 (Stoney Creek) and they were already closed, so we hurried back to Cave Springs winery and did some taste testing - bought a bottle of Ice Wine for ourselves, and a bottle of Late Harvest Riesling for both Sean and Nancy and Bob.
Got back to Toronto - went to a Lebanese diner on Bloor for dinner with Bob and Juan. Headed down to the Village. Met Natasha at Zelda's and went to club (name?) across the street for the remainder of the evening.
Left TO around 11am on Wed morning heading to Quebec City. Got caught in rush hour on the #40 in Montreal. Lost a few minutes there but we had to stop for gas anyways. Rolled into QC around 7pm. Got a room at the Best Western and spent the evening in the room - ordered in, sex in the whirlpool tub all night....definitely needed some downtime. We talked to Jerome tonight and he informed me the gay QC clubs were all centralized on St-Jean. Not too far away, and we did see where they were in the morning, however we were exhausted.
In the morning I got up for a run. Ran up to the Old City and worked my way down to the riverbank. Had to run the stairs back up at the west end of the Plains of Abraham - that put any stairs in Calgary to shame! Did a walk/run around the old city before returning to the hotel to get Joe up and check out. We walked around the Old City for a few hours before it started to rain again. Left QC around 2:30 pm. Rolled into Montreal around 6-6:30. Went up to the top of Mount Royal for a few minutes, then met up with Jerome at his place around 7pm. We sat around for a few beers and Joe and I headed to the Village around 10pm. Ended up at Parking in the later hours. We sat at Le Stud for a few hours as well watching the strippers. Beautiful Mathieu from 'So Gay TV' was there with a bunch of his beautiful friends - didn't see the boyfriend around anywhere though. The crowd at Parking was eclectic. Very weird mix - lots of women as well.
Friday we went shopping on Ste-Catherine - hit Simon's - bought new jeans, pants, lycra shirt. New shoes at Stoneridge. Joe bought a new clothes at Simon's and Mexx. Headed to the Village. Tried a new rubber suit at Northbound Leather. It fit perfectly, but was $500. For that amount I'm going to special order what I want! I've decided the next big purchase is another bondage balloon or vacuum bed anyways. If I'm going to spend that amount of money, I want my rubber to be encasing! Joe was pretty pissed at me over this, since it took nearly and hour to don and doff the suit. It was worth it though!
Friday night Jerome, Joe and I met up with Karen Connolly, her friend from Calgary Camille, Jorge and Miguel at Laika. We had a lot of fun there before heading back downtown to Unity II for some dancing. It wasn't very busy on the main floor but the room upstairs was PACKED. We basically shut the place down.
Saturday Jerome, Joe and I walked down St-Denis to the Village. Joe stopped at Woodstock to get gifts for Amber and Allison. Stopped at Cafe Europeen for food - checked out some more men's clothing stores. Didn't buy anything though.
Saturday night we headed back down to the Village. Sky sucked, BackTraxx blew, so we ended up at Parking again - not too bad, a little older shirtless crowd. The most gay crowd we'd seen all week.
Went to the Pines for the third brunch there since we'd been in Mtl on Sunday morning. Got the 'Merman' painting wrapped up and paid for and said goodbye to Jerome around 2pm. Headed into Toronto and got to Natasha, Erin, and Laura's around 7pm. The entire household was sick with the cold, so we hung out with them for the evening and smoked some of the ganja we picked up in Montreal.
Monday Joe and I went shopping again. Paid our parking tickets, bought some underwear at the Bay, checked out stores on Yonge, Queen (including Mallabar for costumes/dance clothes - there's NOTHING there anymore!), and Church. Bought some shoes at the Aldo Factory outlet, gifts for Sean and Nancy at Urban Outfitters, toured around Eaton Center.
Met up with Bob and Juan, went to Le Petit Liban on Church for Joe's b-day dinner. Great meal, they even presented Joe's baklava with a sparkler for his b-day. Took Joe home. Bob, Juan and I smoked the last joint and went to Woody's.
Got up in the morning, said our goodbyes to the girls, promising them a night out in Calgary when they come out for Christmas. The checkin at the airport went very smoothly. I slept the entire flight home. Spent the rest of Tuesday unpacking and checking email.
Things with Joe went okay. He's a horrible passenger and navigator on long trips, so I've discovered. We got really bitchy at each other once in awhile, usually when hungover and/or tired. Definitely a better experience than the last few months have been.
We've decided to renew our apartment lease for another year so I guess things are staying the way they are for the time being.