The Year In . . . Me

Wow, I've let the blog slide again, huh?

So 2005 is almost outta here. Let me take stock of the past year and see what I liked about it.

To begin at the beginning, I welcomed in the year in San Francisco, watching the fireworks from the plaza in front of the Ferry Building. It rained, which I hate, but otherwise it was a perfectly nice way to greet '05. And I slept well, that's for sure: when I arrived at the Savoy Hotel to check-in, I discovered I'd been upgraded from a double to a two-bedroom suite. Fabulous!

The very next weekend found me in Charleston, South Carolina. I'd been trying to get there for a number of years, but the airfares from L.A. are always so prohibitive. However, I recently earned enough mileage on Delta to nab a free domestic roundtrip, so to Charleston it was. As a history and architecture buff, I was in an ideal location, and even more ideally, I was able to hang out with my lovely and delightful friend Dan.

Ah, what's next? Oooh, yes. I experienced my first blizzard during my annual January trip to New York City with David. We'd splurged for a room at the Waldorf=Astoria, so when we learned our flights home on Sunday were cancelled, we happily extended our stay one night. I love New York City in the snow, particularly Central Park, which is truly breathtaking when covered in a white blanket of snow.

Not three weeks later, and I was back in NYC for the big finale viewing party for the sixth season of CBS's The Amazing Race, an event put on by fans of the show which attracts not only hundreds of fans, but the contestants themselves (and it's not even an official CBS event).

March arrived with the promise of my first journey to Egypt. I traveled via New York, spending a few days there before heading for Cairo -- on the afternoon another blizzard hit the city! Ah, I'll always remember those nine hours waiting at the gate. NOT. Anyway, this trip was my first-ever escorted tour, and I must say that Gate1Travel does a great job organizing their tours. A plus was that our group was small -- just 16 people. Ahmed was our awesome tour guide, and I made a few friends along the way.

My friend Davey came to L.A. to help his aunt move the same weekend I returned from Egypt. It was great seeing him, he's always a lot of fun to hang out with. Plus, he's cute!

I was in San Francisco again in April, to attend several performances of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, who spend two weeks in town each year during their national tour. And after years of watching the company perform both in L.A. and San Franicsco, I finally got the courage to stand at the stage door and ask for a couple of the dancer's autographs afterward. Squee!

The first Saturday in May took me out to Palm Springs for Will Clark's Bad Boys Pool Party fundraiser for Aid for AIDS. How I do love hobnobbing with the glitterati of adult film. Heh.

Another event of that sort took place at the end of May, in Chicago. The Grabbys is this cheesy awards show honoring gay adult film, held at a club near Lincoln Park. The one downside to the event? They allow smoking. In the theater itself. During the show. Yuck.

In June, I was in San Francisco again, this time for the Gay Pride Weekend.

I rarely travel over 4th of July weekend; I prefer to stay home and celebrate Independence Day by watching musicals, thea-tah queen that I am. The Music Man and 1776 get play on the DVD that afternoon.

Since I started the blog in August, y'all are aware of what all went down the rest of the year.

And so this New Year's will find me, once again, in San Francisco. Weather forecasts are bleak, pointing to not only rain but the possibility of thunderstorms. Blech! How east coast...