Summer Vacation 2007 : Dessert
finally, provincetown itself! this is the third installment of the provincetown summer vacation and i have to honestly say that every single year it gets better and better, or simply, it gets more and more "unusual" and “colorful”. and what is provincetown if not a venture into the unusual and colorful? like robert says in his own blog, the year showcased a new cast of characters (quite a few this time around), and a whole new plot of gay drama. haha. fun times!.
so our little adventure started on a VERY early thursday morning, doing the usual multi modal transit to get out of new york (this is why new york is so hard to leave!). we had to subway to penn central, take the lirr to jamaica station, ride the air train to JFK, and then finally go through check in and security (and actually, even though we woke at freaking 5:30 AM... we got to the airport... "just" in time for boarding. oh well, at least the flight went off without a hitch and honestly i think i just slept the whole way. we got to logan and quickly found the first of our Ptown 07 character additions... derek (how do you spell his name anyway... whatever, this is how i'll spell it). i met derek like three years ago once when he joined robert and i for a thanksgiving dinner. it was my second thanksgiving in new jersey and it was i think one of my first real "big" culinary productions... even if it was for three people only. i remember the kitchen afterwards being an absolute mess. anyways, it was a fabulous event of course and it was great to meet one of robert's college friends.
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funny thing is, three years ago derek was "straight". last thanksgiving when robert came to visit houston, i was informed that mr. derek had decided to come out a few months before and was going through the early trials and tribulations of newbie gaydom.... i'll let your imagination go on itself here... haha. anyways, now almost a year later after his own coming out, i was curious to see what the transformation was like... although i can't really remember much about him in the first place anyways.... since i only met him for 2-3 hours that one night. ha, that could sound strange in other contexts. anyways, i'm sure he was going to be a fun addition to our ptown posse.
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we met up and then found the silver line to the sea port where we had a quick lunch before meeting up with derek's and robert's other friend.... a certain susan, whom i was also excited to see, having heard of her only vicariously. we all seemed to gel very quickly and soon enough we were on the fast ferry to provincetown. it was pretty cool, especially being able to see the vista of the city of boston from the waterside... which is most impressive i think. i will also not forget the boat going under the flight landing path as well and a jet maybe about only 200 feet above us... ha... whoa, that's big! haha.
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the ferry lasted about an hour and a half and i was trying to enjoy it as much as possible but to be honest, my lower back had decided to act up when i woke up that morning...and it was PAINFUL! i was trying not to be a cry baby but it was beginning to be excruciating! unfortunately, this pain is still with me, almost three weeks later, and its made me go get an appointment with a doctor to see what exactly is up... pinched nerve? slipped disk? i dunno... anyways, lest i digress. during the trip i had to share a little laugh with susan about the little secret about me that she knew because robert apparently couldn't keep his mouth closed about. it was a pretty much funny-haha moment between us but i wanted to clear the air, just in case robert mis-told it.... i wanted to let her know the issues from my perspective. it was all good though.
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provincetown was as idyllic as ever... and i liked susan, who being very new york, couldn't get enough of the "quaintness" of the town... which in all honestly, is very true. so we got onto the main drag and started walking towards our house that robert rented...and kept walking... and walking...and walking. i'm sure it was the exhaustion from the morning travels but the house seemed faaaaar away. but eventually we realized it was pretty allright and not really that far. when we finally got to the place though... i have to say that its fabulous definitely made up for being a little out of the way. the two bedroom joint was very nice... and the actual owners... duane and ron... man, we could just feel them there even if they weren’t... since there saccharin photos with each other were everywhere... haha. but seriously, the house was VERY nice.... it had a fantastic kitchen, beautiful views, and a rocking porch and roof deck! i knew we would have a good time at this house! with or without my painful leg that that evening started spasming... great! i think throughout the whole trip my only option was just to keep drinking to dull the pain... haha. oh well... two birds with one stone right?
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so we settled in, played with the sound system, and took a quick nap. we eventually went into town for a late dinner at that fusion place we happen to always go to every time... and guess what... for the third time, i got the fantastic gouda burger that they offered...and also a lychee martini where they gave you the shaker as well.... which in the end amounted to like three drinks... no complaints here! anyways, dinner was fabulous and company was equally incandescent. after dinner we decided to do a quick nightcap at A-House, but it was honestly pretty lame so we didn't stay too long.
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i eventually fell asleep around 4 am, after being too tired to notice the leg spasms (god... what a fucking drag for my vacation!) and i woke up lazily the next morning around 11 or noon or something. robert went out for a run (he's really into that now) and he dragged derek with him. susan had gone out for her own little exploration earlier in the morning so i found myself with the place all to myself. i decided to take a little soak in the jucuzzi tub and just in general have a relaxing time trying to ease away the leg issues. afterwards, i started my walk to the only real grocery market in provincetown. it wasn't too bad, about a 20 minute walk. for the next hour or so i was pushing my cart around the grocery market doing my little gay thing thinking of the fabulous dishes i would make that evening for a party of six (jay and hunter from the weekend before were meeting us in ptown as well... yay, more characters!). shopping was fun i have to say, and eventually i met up with robert and we took a cab back to the house. i stocked the fridge and being famished and tempted for an hour with grocery food, then proceeded to go with derek to actually have lunch.
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i'm glad i got to have a little one on one time with derek, picking his brain about what he was going through. i think the most interesting viewpoint he has is his theory of "balance" or "status quo" in the relationship game. basically, derek believes that, basically to protect oneself, and to simply play the relationship game that is , there has to be this perpetuation of a one two, one two, back and forth sort of interchange... so like if you call him (the guy you’re interested in)... you MUST wait for him to call you back....before you call him again… that way no one has a distinct advantage, or is more in control, or is compromised or vulnerable, etc. etc. so basically every action must create a reaction before it can progress further.... a particularly "reactive" methodology as opposed to "proactive".... in my opinion. but ... it was interesting non-the-less.... not sure if i'd subscribe to it.... but it was illuminating like a national geographic show.
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after lunch, i immediately started making dinner... haha. i cooked about two hours or so and actually the other guys (and gals) made significant contributions and at the end, we had a beautiful buffet to enjoy... just in time for jay and hunter. it was good to see the couple again and the rest of the weekend, they were integral in providing some of the most memorable moments of provincetown. dinner included baked fried chicken and gravy (not bad)... blackberry ribs (not all that great)... pilaf (good since it was packaged haha)... maple carrots (very nice)... green beans with asian vinagrette (pretty good).... salad with almonds and grapes (yummy) ... and sausage stuffed mushrooms (robert adored these). even with finicky eaters and all, i think everyone found something to eat and dinner overall was a success. after dinner we hung around a little, chatted, drank and then despite pleading susan to come out with us, she decided to stay in and clean.... so we "boyz" went out..
our first stop was the "crown and anchor" which was pretty quite but the highlight was actually this little art exhibit on erotic art. We then sat on the patio underneath neon palm trees and just chatted about various topics. then we moved our little party to atlantic house which was slightly better with something of a crowd. we had a few beers and just sort of mingled on the back patio... met an interesting character we shall call "husband guy" because he was adamant about describing himself being married despite the “husband” not being in town “yet” and the fact he was being quite "friendly". well ... at least i left atlantic house that evening with the title of "asian paris hilton". "that's hot".
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you know though, i dunno if it was being in new york, or being around so many gay folk for so long, but i was feeling very hmmm... gay, during my time in provincetown. i mean, gay in the sense of being attitudy.... projecting a determined sense of fabulous-ness. maybe it was more that i felt OK to do it so i even pumped it up a little bit more... haha. love it.... dope.
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the next day was a little more relaxed. after waking up deliciously late (and also unfortuanetly missing susan's departure... bye susan... it was fabulous!) we "boyz" went to do a little walk around town, up and down commercial, prancing our goods, and looking for eye candy (which honestly there wasn't much of). we stopped in a few gay gay stores (i.e. Marc Jacobs) and finally came to lunch rest at lobster pot... the traditional restaurant of choice for robert and i in provincetown. i had a wonderful "oyster russian" appetizer and a almodine fish main course. it was very cute! after that, robert went to go meet jay and hunter at the "tea-dance” but i decided to sit that one out this time around and went back to the house with derek. we both just rested and napped and eventually I woke up and started making dinner again.... since actually i had completely forgotten to make the pasta dish i had planned for the night before. so for the second night in a row, i made dinner for “my people”. the tea-dancers came back and we had a fabulous dinner again with wonderful appetizers of cosmopolitans... which i LOVED! haha... of course, we were just trying to save money by getting buzzed before hitting the bars and clubs.
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which worked because even though i had only one beer at atlantic house... i was nicely buzzing the whole night from the five cosmos and three beers i had at the house. and even better, this night at a-house was something to write home about. the crowd was very good... and thank god... the hot boys came out. they even had a little strip tease contest and let me tell you, i know how to pick them because the boy i had my eye on... of course... won! he was a delicious little thing. later on "husband guy" found our little party again but it was allright... we started dancing, and you know, i was toasted already, and probably would have danced with everyone. at one point i found myself in a sandwich situation between "husband guy" and hunter (who when drunk is somewhat of a flirt... but still somewhat gentlemany about it... when he's not trying to take your shirt off or pinch your nipples)... haha... ahh... good times good times.
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and just as a further note on jay and hunter... i really enjoyed this couple. my 10 sec psych evaluation of them is that they're a great couple... love to piss each other off and drive each other crazy.... but totally into each other. it's like a phrase in a great jay brannan song... "he drives me fucking crazy, i am his everything". robert does a hilarious impression of jay talking about hunter... haha... classic.
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the evening was full of good dancing, good drinking, good smokes, and colorful characters. alas, this being massachusettes, atlantic house closed down at 1:30 (what??!!). but no fear... robert and i took the provincetown initiates to another tradition... that of spiritus pizza for the sidewalk sale... haha, and it was a sidewalk sale! robert was eyeing this one guy sitting on a bench and so i totally told him to just go and talk to him.... unfortunately robert's modus operandi figured that is IF he talked to the nasty old guy sitting next to cute guy he might be able to draw cute guy into the conversation eventually... OK... this does not work robert!
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so instead of cute guy, robert ends up talking to "J", the nasty lecherous old guy and somehow our "Jay" gets into the conversations as well and "J" professes his love for "Jay" or something like that. Ok, I was feeling this was so last season when finally someone said we needed to go. so we boyz left "J" to his own machination and were walking towards the next ptown tradition, that is dick dock... when who comes along on his bike, offering "turkey and eggs"????!!! and of course, hunter being as blitzed as he was, actually entertained this loser and got on his bike.... even though all of us were trying to get him off. ok... so i was getting pissed and when i'm half drunk... the diva really comes out. in full condescending gay diva mode i made my way through the pack, got hunter off the bike, patted "J" on the bike and said.... ok, so like we're gonna go now... buh bye. the following conversation ensued....
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J : "who are your people?!"
A : "excuse me"
J : "who are your people?"
A : "uh yeah, so i'm going to ignore that and we're going to leave"
J : "well, i'm just old fashioned and try to be nice to people and you're not being nice"
A : "ok, so yeah, we appreciate your niceness... but i think we've had enough of your "niceness"... so maybe we'll call it a night now"
J : "well good night then" ... the freaks then ensues a juvenile staring contest
A : "good night!"
J : "you have a good night!"
A : thinking in my head and not responding.... "not worth my time.... whatever" … mental “whatever” symbol with my hands… haha
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so we started walking the other way... away from dick dock... and loser "J" went on his merry way.... haha... to whatever hole he crawled out of. but of course, (drunk) hunter REALLY wanted to see dick dock. and for some reason, the other boys didn't want to... and so i "chaperoned" hunter to dick dock. it was interesting i have to say. i have to give it to hunter that within 2 minutes of standing around there was a guy trying to entice him. actually it was kind of funny as an observer because hunter was completely taking it as a joke and was actually "trying to get to know" the guy.... in an increasingly loud voice. of course, anyone who knows dick dock knows that "getting to know each other" and speaking (at all) is really not the way the go. i was chuckling the whole time. eventually though i knew both of us would get into trouble and be kicked out so i took hunter.... while prying the nasty guy away from hunter (to the guy's dismay.. but i was asian paris hilton incarnate in full force at that time so i couldn't care less)... and we left. not without hunter bopping his head against one of the overhead pier beams... haha... that's what you get for going to dick dock! it was all good though... everyone behaved very well..
ahhhh... good times. that was a fun evening i have to say. in general, it was a fabulous vacation.
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the next day was pretty much devoted to a quick cleaning of the house, and then heading back on the return ferry to boston. much of the transit back i really don't remember because i was sleeping most of it, recuperating from the night before. robert and i (derek left us in boston for his flight back to DC) finally got back to the UES, and the rest of the evening was spent with a lazy dinner and watching a movie that was an absolute letdown... a jennifer garner movie, catch and release (well, at least 13 going on 30 was still fabulous!). that was my last evening in nyc.
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the trip back to houston was a bitch... simply said. the flight out of newark was delayed about 4 hours and by the time we left newark, all the flights out of dallas to houston were already gone. Even though i got a hotel voucher, i was in no real mood to find myself the hotel so for some strange reason i decided that staying in the airport wouldn’t be so bad. it was THAT bad... haha. there was something i realized on this trip concerning my physical state... in general i am out of cardio shape... and i am too old to sleep on an air mattress... and i am too old to spend a zombie night in the aiport... where none of the seats are conducive to sleeping. my leg also started acting up AGAIN that night and it was just... PAINFUL. the next morning i FINALLY got back into houston around 10 ish. mei came to pick me up and i was hadly in the mood to talk.
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unfortunately my vacation ended on a crap note... but still, the overwhelming mass of it... was good times good times. once all the photos are organized, i'll definitely post them. but i hope you, dear readers, have had a good time reading this long tri-part entry. definitely delicious!
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posted by faux chink @ 2:01 PM
1 Comments:
Great posting! Do let me know about the pics. I would especially like a copy of the group photo - so cute. I didn't know you stayed at the airport!? That sucks! You could've come back. I'm sorry about my mattress. I'll have a new, fully functional one for next time you're here. Hope you back is OK!!! We are old men!!
10:37 PM
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