c9 | Continuing the "Things I did in 1998" Theme...

From: Cam MacLeod
To: Ben Steeves, Cam MacLeod
Cc: Linda MacLeod
Subject: Some Weekend!
Date: June 30, 1998 17:17

Hello!

Yes, I'm alive, oh boy am I tired. This message is what I wrote to
various friends after I got back, and rather than write a whole new (and
further censored/edited) version, I figured I'd just send this one. You
can cover your eyes at the sensitive parts (there are none, really).

And I'll phone home in a couple hours to say hi.

"Notes from Pride"

or

"How much is that boy in the window..."

or

"750,000 people with nuthin' on..."

Hello. For the benefit of those lost in the El Nino of life, here's the
catching up bit: Pete, Joel, Jason and myself went to Toronto this past
weekend to take in that wonder of modern living known as Gay Pride.
Occasionally, passages will be censored so as to protect the innocent,
finger the guilty, and titillate those outside our viewing area. All
rights reserved, reservations accepted, Visa preferred.

How to rent a car: Rule Number One - Do NOT Believe Them When They Say It
Is A Small/Medium/Large/Colossal Car. We got a "small" car -- it was a
station wagon. Granted, not a 1983 station wagon right out of the Brady
Bunch, but it was no Beetle. (though that would have been cool, and likely
would have helped us attract (more) hot guys to us!!)

By two or so we were in Toronto, picking up Mark in Mississauga (straight
heaven, I believe, was the phrase used. Hell would also be appropriate).
We headed for the hotel, and checked in -- nice place. Too fancy, really,
for the time we spent there, but hey. We'll make reservations earlier
next year.

Downtown by subway -- fun fun fun! Muggy weather, but it doesn't rain
("You won't melt, you're not made of sugar honey..." was heard). We leave
the subway station and 15 seconds later (no word of a lie) Jason and I win
the fastest tie for seeing someone you know prize. Gord, a friend from PTY
last summer, appears! We talk, and then continue on to Church Street
(queer village in downtown Toronto) and see tons of people. I bump into
Jen, from Fredericton... shocking, actually, that we found each other.
Through the tons of people, that is.

"Tons of people," you think to yourself, "Just what does that mean -- a
couple thousand?" It means 750,000 people (police estimate), which means
reality is 850,000+. All crammed into a bunch of blocks of downtown. We
had jokingly told friends "hey, i'll see ya there", knowing there was no
way we'd even see them... WRONG. We managed to bump into friends from
Ottawa, Fredericton, Toronto, Peterborough, all the little cities around
Toronto... we couldn't get AWAY from our friends!! Not that we'd want to.

Commercialism: Pride is no longer about pride, or prejudice... it's about
profit. All about profit. Not that it's any different from just about
everything else out there, but... geez... y'know? Oh well. Lots of free
things, from condoms to Snackwell's Chocolate Brownies to
PhoneCards-That-Only-Work-With-Toronto-Sex-Lines. Only one protester,
pretty dismal. Ottawa manages at least two! 'course, last year we let
the most annoying one lead the parade. It was kinda funny. Flanked by
anti-protesters with signs saying "judge not lest ye be judged" and
messages of love from the bible... nice contrast, I thought.

Skin: Pride is all about skin too. The queer community, as most of you
know, is a very body-image-based group. If you have pecs and abs like the
cover of Men's Health, you win a prize! If you don't, you can often feel
marginalized or even outright rejected by the body-queens. Lots of people
had their shirts off, some had their pants off, and only a few had their
fig-leaves off, to Mayor Mel Lastman's relief. With so many really
gorgeous bodies around, it was really tricky to keep myself convinced that
it was the mind that matters, and abs are not everything. *sigh...*

"Woodys": insert crude joke here. This bar looked kinda nice, we were
only in it for a short while. We also visited the beer tent / parking lot
where some live music was happening... interesting. Saw a friend from
high school, said hello. He looked much healthier/happier/better than
last time I saw him, which was serving drinks in an Ottawa bar.

"Boots": This bar, where we ended up for most of the evening, is both
great and not-so-great. Huge, cool, comfortable patio, which I am in love
with. Hot, dark, cramped inside (despite being huge inside, just there
were so many people) which I liked a little less. Lots of attractive guys
there. Had my first shooter ever. It was okay, but nothing to write home
about, so to speak. Some friends showed up on various chemical
stimulants, which was (in my humble opinion) unfortunate... everyone gets
their own life though.

Subway: Note to visitors to downtown Toronto. The subway stops around
1:40 AM. Bars close at 2. Be careful. I made the last train out of
downtown Saturday night, but not before getting a scare thinking I might
be at St Georges station and have to find a cab.

Slept like a log. Not enough sleep though. And (just kidding to those
who are about to gasp) alone... sigh... Of course it's not all about sex,
but sometimes it would be nice if it were. Actually, no it wouldn't.
Never mind.

Sunday morning: breakfast/lunch at ... "Coffee, Tea or Me", a nice big
open-window deli/dessert place with a World Cup fascination.

Subway downtown again, and meet friends to stake out a place to watch the
parade. Where, you might ask? The roof of a building overlooking Yonge
Street, where the parade passes by. Very cool. Slightly unstable roof
though, and bricks nearly went down into the crowd because of some of
us... :-)

Very cool parade. HUGE. Over an hour for it to pass us. The mayor was
the big hit, of course, which is great. I saved pictures to show people
from the papers... my camera gathered dust over the weekend, since I
didn't want to bring it into clubs. Oh well... better planning next time.

Over the course of the weekend I met tons of people, some of which I may
even remember the next time I see them! Lorne and Armand are two whose
apartments we visited. Nice guys, both attractive, both older than anyone
I've been attracted to before (!), and both taken in one form or another.
Oh well. Long distance just doesn't work for me.

After the parade (this is evening now) we visited Lorne's apartment
(downtown and beautiful) and sat around for a while. Then Armand's
apartment, where some fortunes were told by a mysterious visitor named
"Princess Zelda" in a stunning outfit. Not my fortune though... I suspect
this is a good thing, but who knows? Maybe next trip she'll return.

Dinner at "The Keg Mansion", a restaurant which is actually The Keg, but
inside a huge, beautiful old downtown T.O. house. Relaxing, except for
someone who shall remain nameless having to hide from a old high school
acquaintance.

Off to a club -- in fact, Boots again. I'll have to keep visiting T.O. on
occasion just to see other bars (since that's what life is all about,
natch). Note sarcasm, of course. It was fun, and much more crowded than
the previous day... though according to Mark, it was practically "empty".

As for the more steamy happenings, I can only tell stories with all names
removed. There was, for instance, somebody chasing after someone that
someone else had "dibs" on, and another someone who thought somebody
wasn't ready for what someone else had in mind... very confusing, isn't
it? It was also confusing for the people actually involved!!

Dance and party for a while, but the weekend is obviously catching up to
us all. We head for the hotel, and crash.

At the hotel, more confusion. Some phone calls, a waxed floor. Someone
nearly made the following phone call: "Hi _____, ______ is staying here
tonight. Bye!" But that someone did not, for the good of all involved.

I actually woke up early Monday, and got to the hotel pool for a quick
swim -- I try to never miss hotel pools. This one, however, was pretty
missable. Not very big or deep. Had a nice hot tub though. Waking up to
a swim and a hot tub is DEFINITELY something I'd recommend. Maybe I can
get one installed at our cottage in PEI... :-)

We dropped Mark off in Mississauga, and headed back. In Ottawa and
environs, there was all of: sunshine, rain, hail, a tornado warning, a
severe thunderstorm warning, and more... this is all around the same time,
too. Oh well.

I left Toronto with precious few souvenirs, but plenty of new friends and
stories I can't tell anyone. Oh well. :-) Who knows, maybe this bodes
well for a summer of excitement!

We'll see.

For a transcript of this broadcast, just write it all down.

Production Rights are available for a small fee from Brohm, LePage and
MacLeod Ltd., 875 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY.

Have a nice day.

P.S. Ottawa Pride, while 500 times smaller, is also alot of fun, so I
expect to see you all there. Even you straight friends, I know you're
reading this too.