The ending (for now)

You can read about our adventures in the park here. We then went to Chinatown and had pearl tea and dumplings and Peking duck (tres yummy) and then everyone scattered to the four winds and I got on a plane to California.

My three favourite moments of the last fortnight, aside from just the sheer bliss of meeting everyone:

1. Spiking Alex's hair, then, after Val did his makeup, having him stand in my bathroom admiring himself in the mirror for a good half hour. He DID look very good--and the lighting is very good in my bathroom as I have those full-spectrum lightbulbs in there--but it was still comical especially when we started teasing him about it and he gave us the finger, underhand and behind his back without taking his glance from the mirror.

And yet, with all that, I wouldn't call him narcissistic. Honest. Well, at least, no more than any other gay man of my acquaintance.

2. Much hugging.

3. At one point after we watched Snatch, I was sitting at the computer doing something and Cassie was sitting next to Alex on the couch and she reached up and rubbed his head--you know, that scalp massage thing--and he turned to me and had such an expression of "ooh, I am loved and content" that I had to laugh. I think when I picture him in my head, it will be that moment.

EDIT: The Babs reference is a JOKE! A joke about our sentimental entries (mine included)about missing Alex when he'd been gone all of twelve hours and hasn't exactly fallen off the face of the earth. Misty watercolored memories indeed.

You want to talk to her, you want to talk to her

I love my friend D. I miss him so much--we hung out at least once a week when he lived in New York. (Goddamn that company of his for sending him out here.) He's the only reason I'm not crushed by the departure of Alex. I had sent D my travel itinerary and asked him for his street address so I could look up directions from the airport, and he sent back the link to the directions themselves on mapquest. Woobie. Then he said: "Sleep on the plane if possible; I have a surprise for Sunday night that you will want to be semi-conscious for." :-)

Slept on the plane (odd movies: Spiderman followed by What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?). Upgraded car to convertible. Drove to Venice. D's house is beautiful--light and airy, and only a five-minute walk from the beach.

We went to a street festival and had tamales and then to the beach but it was too windy and then he went to the grocery store and I took a nap.

Why? Because the surprise was tickets to see Elvis Costello and Phantom Planet! It was AWESOME! Elvis played for nearly three hours. He is an amazingly talented musician, that one. So versitile. He can really do anything he wants with that voice. He was inserting songs into other songs--his sense of pop craft is really impeccible. We had a great time.

Phantom Planet were also very good. Jason was wearing earmuffs. He's so Keith Moon as geek.

We then got into his silver Porsche Boxter convertible (je suis car whore) and drove down the 10 at 100 MPH. Rock!

D has a mac (a powerbook G3) so I am plug and play with his cable modem. Hurrah! It's like being home, except not.

And now I am going to find some CDs to put on, and get some writing work done.

Oh, that D___

D__ is on AOL from work, and called to say he was coming home and why wasn't I on AIM when I was clearly online from his apartment? I explained that he only has my work sn, not my home one, then gave him my home one. The chat that ensued:

D__: Is this you?
Clio: this is me
D__: Me who?
D__: How do I know it's you
Clio: this is clio, amazing writer with fangirls galore
Clio: you will know me by the trail of dead
D__: What is your buddy icon?
Clio: oh, do you really want to know?
D__: It looks like some kind of weird owl couple
D__: And a heart.
Clio: It's a tall black boy buggering a shorter blond irish one.
D__: Oh that's just wrong.
D__: Why is that your icon?
Clio: well, it's what my story is about
D__: Ah.
Clio: I'm known as a dean/seamus shipper
D__: It's not because you're a man online, is it?
Clio: no.

Poor lamb, he has no idea what I'm writing about, just that I'm writing. I'm debating telling him. Oh, and btw--that "oh that's just wrong" wasn't homophobic--D__, like nearly all my other male friends, is gay. So it isn't the slash that worries me--it's the online HP part.

Eh, he'll live.

In other news, Ch 13 is finally almost ready to go to the betas! Go me!