Partying with Russ and Billy

When I woke up from my nap, the last thing I felt like doing was going to a party. The weather did not help this feeling any. It was drizzly rainy yuck outside. Going and eating lunch didn't make me feel any more party-y. It just made me feel full and lazy.

But I had promised to go, and I wanted to see Russ and Billy. I had already begged off of doing gifts with them tonight because I have to get a box to wrap Russ's and I keep putting off getting the box. And the wrapping, of course. I drug myself through the shower and into clothes. I was fresh out of gay apparel. Well Christmas gay apparel anyway. I did wear Christmas underwear. You just never know.

When I got to Russ and Billy's they weren't really any more festive than I was. We were all tired. They go even harder than I do. But the posse started assembling. Ted and Kirkland showed up. Russ and Billy know them better than I do - it takes me longer to warm up to stunningly attractive couples. Long association with the gay world makes me associate beautiful people with a general air of star-bellied sneetch superiority. Most gorgeous gay couples kind of live in a World of Two where others are not welcome. But Ted and Kirkland really don't seem to be like that. I hadn't spent a lot of time with them in close quarters before. Generally we're at a party with the bear group, and I kind of hang with people I know better and let their admirers surround them. But they are nice guys. Ted was in a really good mood, and very talkative. Kirkland is the quiet one. It's easy to read a lot of negative things onto someone who isn't saying much, and I had kind of projected the "quiet, possessive, watching lover" thing onto Kirkand. Since I'm a flirty type, that makes me as nervous as a dog that doesn't bark. I'm always halfway expecting to get bitten. But it apparently was totally not fair for me to project that onto Kirkland. Lord knows Michael was quiet as a mouse, and I should know better. I should have known better than to think Russ and Billy would hang out with people like that also. Kirkland did speak up enough later in the evening to make me suspect that he has a sense of humor, and is probably a very different person when it's just the two of them, or maybe once he gets to know you.

Anyway, by the time we all gathered and spent a bit of time on the porch, we were in a much better mood. I was all comfy and prepared to stay there, but of course we had to go on to the actual party, which was a bit discombobulating.

It was at Dean and Scott's house. They are nice guys. A bit cream cheese for me, and what I would term Aggressive Holiday Decorators, but nice. Their parties are always an interesting mix. There are a lot of older, MCC people there. And some straight couples. And then there's us - the party people. Generally, I just go out onto the porch and say the most outrageous thing I can think of. Half the MCC people are secretly thrilled to hear someone without a stick up their ass, and the other half can be horrified and get to feel superior, so its kind of a win/win. Generally by halfway through the party, its kind of split in half, with the vanilla people in the house and the wilder people on the smoking porch, and so it was tonight. Rick Shaw was there, and it's just always good to see him. There were bear group people there too.

Things got wild enough on the porch that the Gladys Kravitz next door came out on her back porch to spy on us. Dean and Scott live in a suburb where the houses are like about eight feet apart. That put a damper on things for a bit, but eventually she went in the house.

When I was there the last time, I declined the tour of the house, which seemed to miff Dean a bit. But the house is all in white and beige, and I figured "seen one room, seen them all" frankly. But tonight I decided to take the tour. Partially to keep the peace, partially out of curiosity, and partially because Ted was going and I figured I could maneuver so that he went up the stairs in front of me. He has what I would term an Inspiring Ass. And there are a lot of stairs in that house. MC Escher would feel quite at home. Three floors and a basement, and bathrooms everywhere. The house is really deceptively large - over 5,000 sq feet, according to Dean. It is a lot bigger than it looks from the outside. And I counted 5 full-sized Christmas trees. There were smaller ones too, and a lot of other decorations, plus another tree in the basement that wasn't even decorated. Plus the outside of the house. Too much work for me, but hey, good for them.

There was much smoking and talking. Billy got tore down, and Ted and I took turns getting him tickled, which is always fun. But the party started winding down. This is a fairly early crowd, so by 12:30 or so, it was pretty much all over. Russ started making noises about going to another party, but I begged off. I had had enough. Plus I had company coming tomorrow. So they dropped me at the house and went on. Billy was already lit, and Russ just hates to miss anything. They are just indefatigable. More power to them, but I learned long ago not to try to keep up.