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eggwardsI can't tell you all of the fun this event was. Yes, I kept a bit to an LJ group, 'cause I felt safe and at home with them, but still, I did the run, I got out and did things, and met people and had fun. The event turned out to be more fun and more worth it than I originally thought it would be. If I can find them I'll try to add some picture links to this post. I'm still waiting to see ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bobaloo's pics from the event.
This is going to be really long, with references to -well, I'll put that phrase behind the cut too. needless to say, it became my favorite phrase of the weekend. but from Sushi to Match Game to Sordid Lives to Happy tree Friends to MST3K and all of the repetitive dance music in-between (*pooft - releases Bearamones*) it was a ____-chugging good time!
I got to Dallas at 11:30 wednesday night and stayed at Chris',oakleycub. It was a nice way to ease into the weekend and de-stress from work. His bathroom is the greatest. It makes my apartment look like a slum. Ugh. Lunch was already planned on Thursday as we needed to rescue Bob bobaloo and Paul knepbear from Matt's mattycubcat, Loki. We went out to eat sushi with Kenny pridekill, who was taking a break from his radio god duties.
Let's talk a minute about sushi. I'll admit that I have a very bad habit of not wanting to try anything new-especially when it comes to food. Asian food is usually so vegetable based that I just can't get into it. Sushi is just plain weird. I was silently hoping there was a burger or chicken tenders on that menu - but no, just sushi and japanese noodles. I wasn't going to ruin this for these guys that I was trying to make a good impression with. they had already decided on sushi and who was I to tell them we should go to McDonald's instead.
I bucked it up, and ordered some beef udon. Silly me, I didn't know what it was, but it sounded low on veggies. All eyes were on me as I attempted to eat it with the chopsticks and that goofy spoon. I wasn't doing too well. Bob was trying to give me lessons, but to now avail. Luckily the conversation was lively and the people were engaging.
Moving on...we had checked into the hotel, and were driving back to go to registration in my car. I was quickly pegged as chauffeur for this trip, so there are a lot of car rides, and trips to the big airport. Bob, in the car asks me about the whole New Bear Icon thing. I said it was a joke, brought on from a conversation with Randylostncove, where he said that I would shine at TRBU, and I shouldn't worry so much. "It's going to be tough being a Bear Icon", he said. I had posted this earlier. Strangely enough, that joke started to take a bit a life of it's own right then. suddenly a little voice in the back of my hear clicked with "Icon" - some sort of inner strength in the midst of joking about A-list bears and those who get special favors. It stayed a joke for the entire trip ("The Icon will not deal with bad drinking water, get me a chai." or "I'm not going to deal with your drama right now, because I'm the Icon."). It really did become a mantra of strength.
Now I sound stuck up, but really it was a joke, and we all laughed and moved on. It was just a little drama defense mechanism.
Then, when we get back to the hotel, Johnblithwulf was waiting there. Ohh, he was sexy with his red beard, and funny too! I was a bit intimidated by him at first, since he was wearing a cap with the leather flag on it. We went down to registration. Already so many hot bears! I was amazed. This is when it first hit me...this was going to be a different experience than I was expecting. We meet up with Larry lfkbear and Jamie supercub and meet Justin tuc1 and Alan (don't know Alan's journal name!). We also saw - for a brief moment, Terry bigrock. I also run into Brian, a friend of my sister's in high school. That was odd. i had suspected that he was gay, but I didn't think I'd run into him at TRBU.
Alright, dinner plans. Mattymattycub makes his appearance after work and immediately everyone looks to him for guidance. I know he hates playing "Julie", but he does it so well. We decide on Uncle Julio's near the Gayborhood and not far from the Eagle. There's about twenty of us - and for reasons I'll mention in a minute, I can't remember all of them. I drove Chris, Justin and Alan over and we all talked in line waiting to be seated. Chris and Matty both were getting a little frisky, hugging on me, (*sigh*) and I was watching Jamie, talking to him and John mostly. The problem is, that Chris has to pick up Glen hot4latin at the airport, so before we even get seated, We had to leave, since Chris had been in my car instead of taking his own.
DFW is a big, big, bitch of an airport. I was shocked that they charge for driving in and out of it. we go and wait in the US Air baggage claim for Glen. No Glen. chris had left his cell phone at home, so he used my phone to check his voice mail (can't wait for this bill). No word from Glen. Now Chris is starting to doubt himself. What time? What airline? after about 40 minutes with no word we decide to leave DFW and head back to Chris' place to check on the itinerary. I'm desperately trying not to be upset, since I missed dinner, and a chance to talk with everyone, (and didn't know if a dinner like that would happen again) but Chris was feeling worse about having dragged me out here - so I was trying to be good.
We get back to Chris' and he gets the call. Glen's flight was delayed, and it was a different airline. Chris gets ready to go back and Matty calls to say that they are heading to the Eagle. Chris tells me to go there, and they will catch up. Where's the Eagle? Chris explains that it's in this shopping center, but the entrance is in the back - so you can't see it from the street. OH GREAT. Just what I need. I drive out and finally grab a McDonald's burger at 10:00 to eat in the car.
So it takes me a few laps to find the Eagle. I was driving around it for a good 5-10 minutes before I found it. I'm nervous as hell about going in, especially since I'm alone. This is only the 4th gay bar I've ever been in. The first one outside of Montreal. Several people who I've run into throughout the day are there, and I locked onto our little group - including Kenny who had appeared. The bar was smoky and confined. I took the usual beer - Shiner Bock, hoping that it would relax me. despite talking to folks, this just confirmed that I'm not a bar person. I felt very uncomfortable, especially since it was so crowded. And this was only day one. We moved out to the patio where I talked with Paul and Bob and Richarddedagdaa little longer. I also met Clint clintswan there.
Still, I went...more adventurous than I normally am. I was really trying very hard to give in to all of the new experinces. It was a world I needed to know more of, and I wasn't going to do it sitting in the hotel room, alone.
I left the Eagle when much of our crowd decided to call it quits around midnight. I decided to jump into my room and take it all in, rather than carousing around the hotel. Of course I get online and end up talking to Randy andcuttercoon for a few hours. I think they were worried that I wasn't enjoying myself since I was on line. They were wrong, I was just getting set for more adventures to come...
Well, I haven't gotten very far in my story, have I? Unfortunately I'll have to cut it here, since I need to go to work. Much more later...
bobaloo's pics from the event.This is going to be really long, with references to -well, I'll put that phrase behind the cut too. needless to say, it became my favorite phrase of the weekend. but from Sushi to Match Game to Sordid Lives to Happy tree Friends to MST3K and all of the repetitive dance music in-between (*pooft - releases Bearamones*) it was a ____-chugging good time!
I got to Dallas at 11:30 wednesday night and stayed at Chris',
oakleycub. It was a nice way to ease into the weekend and de-stress from work. His bathroom is the greatest. It makes my apartment look like a slum. Ugh. Lunch was already planned on Thursday as we needed to rescue Bob bobaloo and Paul knepbear from Matt's mattycubcat, Loki. We went out to eat sushi with Kenny pridekill, who was taking a break from his radio god duties.Let's talk a minute about sushi. I'll admit that I have a very bad habit of not wanting to try anything new-especially when it comes to food. Asian food is usually so vegetable based that I just can't get into it. Sushi is just plain weird. I was silently hoping there was a burger or chicken tenders on that menu - but no, just sushi and japanese noodles. I wasn't going to ruin this for these guys that I was trying to make a good impression with. they had already decided on sushi and who was I to tell them we should go to McDonald's instead.
I bucked it up, and ordered some beef udon. Silly me, I didn't know what it was, but it sounded low on veggies. All eyes were on me as I attempted to eat it with the chopsticks and that goofy spoon. I wasn't doing too well. Bob was trying to give me lessons, but to now avail. Luckily the conversation was lively and the people were engaging.
Moving on...we had checked into the hotel, and were driving back to go to registration in my car. I was quickly pegged as chauffeur for this trip, so there are a lot of car rides, and trips to the big airport. Bob, in the car asks me about the whole New Bear Icon thing. I said it was a joke, brought on from a conversation with Randy
lostncove, where he said that I would shine at TRBU, and I shouldn't worry so much. "It's going to be tough being a Bear Icon", he said. I had posted this earlier. Strangely enough, that joke started to take a bit a life of it's own right then. suddenly a little voice in the back of my hear clicked with "Icon" - some sort of inner strength in the midst of joking about A-list bears and those who get special favors. It stayed a joke for the entire trip ("The Icon will not deal with bad drinking water, get me a chai." or "I'm not going to deal with your drama right now, because I'm the Icon."). It really did become a mantra of strength.Now I sound stuck up, but really it was a joke, and we all laughed and moved on. It was just a little drama defense mechanism.
Then, when we get back to the hotel, John
blithwulf was waiting there. Ohh, he was sexy with his red beard, and funny too! I was a bit intimidated by him at first, since he was wearing a cap with the leather flag on it. We went down to registration. Already so many hot bears! I was amazed. This is when it first hit me...this was going to be a different experience than I was expecting. We meet up with Larry lfkbear and Jamie supercub and meet Justin tuc1 and Alan (don't know Alan's journal name!). We also saw - for a brief moment, Terry bigrock. I also run into Brian, a friend of my sister's in high school. That was odd. i had suspected that he was gay, but I didn't think I'd run into him at TRBU. Alright, dinner plans. Matty
mattycub makes his appearance after work and immediately everyone looks to him for guidance. I know he hates playing "Julie", but he does it so well. We decide on Uncle Julio's near the Gayborhood and not far from the Eagle. There's about twenty of us - and for reasons I'll mention in a minute, I can't remember all of them. I drove Chris, Justin and Alan over and we all talked in line waiting to be seated. Chris and Matty both were getting a little frisky, hugging on me, (*sigh*) and I was watching Jamie, talking to him and John mostly. The problem is, that Chris has to pick up Glen hot4latin at the airport, so before we even get seated, We had to leave, since Chris had been in my car instead of taking his own.DFW is a big, big, bitch of an airport. I was shocked that they charge for driving in and out of it. we go and wait in the US Air baggage claim for Glen. No Glen. chris had left his cell phone at home, so he used my phone to check his voice mail (can't wait for this bill). No word from Glen. Now Chris is starting to doubt himself. What time? What airline? after about 40 minutes with no word we decide to leave DFW and head back to Chris' place to check on the itinerary. I'm desperately trying not to be upset, since I missed dinner, and a chance to talk with everyone, (and didn't know if a dinner like that would happen again) but Chris was feeling worse about having dragged me out here - so I was trying to be good.
We get back to Chris' and he gets the call. Glen's flight was delayed, and it was a different airline. Chris gets ready to go back and Matty calls to say that they are heading to the Eagle. Chris tells me to go there, and they will catch up. Where's the Eagle? Chris explains that it's in this shopping center, but the entrance is in the back - so you can't see it from the street. OH GREAT. Just what I need. I drive out and finally grab a McDonald's burger at 10:00 to eat in the car.
So it takes me a few laps to find the Eagle. I was driving around it for a good 5-10 minutes before I found it. I'm nervous as hell about going in, especially since I'm alone. This is only the 4th gay bar I've ever been in. The first one outside of Montreal. Several people who I've run into throughout the day are there, and I locked onto our little group - including Kenny who had appeared. The bar was smoky and confined. I took the usual beer - Shiner Bock, hoping that it would relax me. despite talking to folks, this just confirmed that I'm not a bar person. I felt very uncomfortable, especially since it was so crowded. And this was only day one. We moved out to the patio where I talked with Paul and Bob and Richard
dedagdaa little longer. I also met Clint clintswan there.Still, I went...more adventurous than I normally am. I was really trying very hard to give in to all of the new experinces. It was a world I needed to know more of, and I wasn't going to do it sitting in the hotel room, alone.
I left the Eagle when much of our crowd decided to call it quits around midnight. I decided to jump into my room and take it all in, rather than carousing around the hotel. Of course I get online and end up talking to Randy and
cuttercoon for a few hours. I think they were worried that I wasn't enjoying myself since I was on line. They were wrong, I was just getting set for more adventures to come...Well, I haven't gotten very far in my story, have I? Unfortunately I'll have to cut it here, since I need to go to work. Much more later...
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-02 08:44 am (UTC)And I'm with you on the Sushi thing. I totally don't get it.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-02 09:26 am (UTC)I can't tell you HOW jealous I am. ::sigh::
no subject
Date: 2003-04-02 09:37 pm (UTC)Perhaps next year you can drop in, but I understand it's hard on a teacher's schedule.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-02 09:40 am (UTC)Also: yeah, what is UP with sushi? It's raw FISH! It just makes no sense to me.
no subject
Date: 2003-04-02 10:39 am (UTC)It's the combination of ingredients that gets me, I guess. I like the rolls far more than the sushi, especially any of the ones that have cucumber. And wasabi kicks my ass.
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Date: 2003-04-02 09:52 am (UTC)PS with your looks, you fit the Bear Icon role well.
no subject
but GAWD do I wish I could've been there. I'm glad you had a good time, and I wanna hear more ^_^
no subject
Date: 2003-04-02 09:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-04-03 03:44 am (UTC)hugs!