Fundraising, grazing, hellraising

After work, a colleague and I went to a nearby hotel for an AIDS fundraiser. Puppy and VALedictorian met me there, and we played their little fundraising game. They'd opened a few of the hotel's theme rooms and each person was encouraged to visit the rooms, bid on items in a silent auction, drink cocktails and get a little card highlighted for a goody bag.

One room was themed "Kathy Griffin," because she stayed there or something. I admit it seemed like a pretty plain room to me, but boasted a photo of her wearing nearly nothing on the desk.

Another room was "Haagen Dazs" and had its own freezer of ice creamy treats, a branded bedspread and delicious smelling Haagen Dazs candles. More importantly, it featured a very generous wine pourer who kept refilling our glasses with bubbly wine without asking us for our drink tickets! We stayed in there for a while.

As we made our way through the hotel, I randomly ran into Hellenica, who was also supporting the cause. Later, during the drag show entertainment portion of the fundraiser, I saw Clipper and accosted him to learn more about his fairly new porn career.

The drag show was pretty boring, as most seem to be, so VALedictorian, Puppy and I made our way to dinner at the recently opened Burger Bar, which also was a sad disappointment. But we made it into a fun time, and we ostensibly were there to celebrate VALedictorian's birthday, so we each scarfed down an alcohol-filled milkshake in addition to our mediocre burgers. Since VALedictorian is single and on the prowl, we had a fun time encouraging her to hook up with everyone in sight, including our 12-year-old waiter with limited serving ability.

Goodwill grooves

The other night, I attended a party celebrating a new partnership between Levi's and Goodwill, where instructions on care labels will encourage consumers to recycle clothing once they're done. It's a clever idea and worthy of celebration, but people at the party didn't really seem to care about the cause.

Instead, we drank some free wine and beer, munched on hors d'oeuvres, chatted with old friends and some people took advantage of the 30% discount at the store that night. Some of the folks there had clearly been drinking before the party - particularly a notable figure in the human rights space who stood about two inches from me while he breathed his fiery alcohol breath into my face.

Since BoomKat helped to plan the event, it was great to just hang out with her and catch up. Some Levi's execs tried to encourage me to buy things, but I let them know that I already have too much clothing.

Sweatin' to the oldies

For the past several months, I feel like I've been slipping away from the local nightlife scene and I rarely make it out to the bars, especially on a weekday night. Sadly, this behavior isn't having a positive impact on my ever-expanding waistline, but that's neither here nor there.

Last night, I met Roommate A for a drink at Juanita MORE's Booty Call party and experienced the following:

* I felt so old in a sea of twenty-somethings who danced frenetically and annoyingly in the bar.
* I just wanted to sip my kir royale in the corner, where I wouldn't be bumped into.
* My coat and fancy orange tie (Juanita requested formal attire!) caused me to sweat non-stop.
* It just didn't feel like my scene anymore since I knew very few people out and about.
* I left at the early hour of 11pm.

I should probably just stop fighting it and accept that I am an old panda, but something inside me clings to this life I used to lead.

Off the wagon

Since my little vacay in Austin for Labor Day, I have been abstaining from alcohol. It's been a little experiment that I planned to endure until my upcoming trip to Los Angeles next weekend.

Well, I officially fell off the wagon last night. You see, Blanca is in town so a bunch of us enjoyed a backyard dinner at Mattress and Beetle's, accompanied by generous pours of wine. I simply couldn't resist! And truthfully, I had no real reason not to imbibe - I was just being stubborn for the past 2.5 weeks.

I guess the timing is right because now I'll feel no compulsion to adhere to sobriety for the weekend, the activities for which include a booze cruise and outdoor beer drinking.

Chola-riffic

Another way last night hearkened back to my high school days was the theme at Booty Call Wednesdays: Gangsta Chola Bandanna Splash Epilepsy! Okay, so that's probably not the official name of the theme, but I decided it would suffice.

Juanita MORE had teased and freezed her hair to the heavens and gang-type bandannas were everywhere. It was as if half the girls from my high school decided to throw a party at the bar. It reeked of aqua net and magnum markers.

Roommates A&J, Lezzies N&P, Mahogany Sparkle, GarGar, Puppy and I were at the bar celebrating Kitten's birthday last night. Selives had flown up from LA in his finest work outfit. PorkChop, Beetle and Mattress were also there, in support of Mattress's first night as a tranny go-go dancer, in character as Tess Tickle. She swayed gently on the makeshift stage while elegantly sipping her beverage.

Since I'm a working panda, Puppy and I left just as the festivities were getting started. I understand Kitten disappeared, Selives lost his phone and someone may have ended up sleeping on the streets. Obviously, some folks took the chola theme a bit too literally.

It doesn't seem so elite

Last night, Puppy and I hit the Yelp elite event at The Cafe. I was interested in seeing the million-dollar renovation and partaking in all the free drinks and food that was promised.

The new space is a big improvement over the old layout - it's more open and more modern - but why did they insist on keeping the random vending machine on the second floor? The bags of Fritos do nothing to enhance the vibe they're trying to sell.

It was sort of strange to be in The Cafe with a crowd that was mostly straight and Taiwanese. But we made the most of it and sipped on the complimentary rum/pineapple juice/grenadine concoctions and I enjoyed when they played Damaged.

We also saw this guy, who looks like he's been skipping his cardio workouts and who's in severe need of a haircut. His wavy hair is growing out and the bleached tips of his hair simply look unkempt.

When we tired of the Yelp scene, we made it to Juanita MORE's Booty Call for a bit, where we ran into old friends like Lezzies N&P and Beetle. It's been a long time since I've gone out on a Wednesday, but fortunately it was an early night and I'm not feeling any nasty side effects today.

Singing in the dead of night

Last night, Puppy and I went to the grand opening soiree of a new bar, Blackbird. It's a welcome addition to the Castro neighborhood - stylish without being gaudy-gay (no mirror ball, subtle details, classy!), yet chillaxed enough to just hang in an unpretentious way.

I feel like I hadn't been out in a long time, so it was nice to bet out and about, catch up with GarGar, Lezzies N&P, Kitten and other folks in the scene. We left relatively early, so we missed seeing Roommates A&J, Mattress and Beetle, but Puppy insisted on getting some pizza at the night's close, and when we did, we ran into PorkChop and Elizabeth Taylor, whom I've missed hanging out with.

Somehow, I need to rejuvenate and train my body to accept alcohol on weeknights like it used to when I was a young'un.

Nightlife in the bush

May 7, 2009

Last night after dinner, Charlotte York and I were coerced into bringing our iPods to the bar and playing DJ for an impromptu dance party. We learned that the hotel managers are a gay couple who moved here from Cape Town about a year ago. So they, our ranger, the three Frenchies, Charlotte York and I started guzzling wine and listening to Britney.

The annoying Frenchy had clearly dolled herself up to lure our very cute ranger back to her room with her and made it painfully clear that she was sweet on him. In fact, she pulled Charlotte York aside to remind her which of the two ladies is single. Cute ranger, however, was much more into Charlotte York and he made it obvious that had she been single, he would have tossed aside any no fraternization rules for a chance to “get to know” her better.

By the end of the night, after many glasses of wine and a complimentary bottle of champagne, only a drunk quartet of Charlotte York, cute ranger, one half of the gay management couple and I remained at the bar, discussing sharing stories about ourselves and discussing life in the bush. We also learned that people in South Africa have never heard of the band Journey, but they love Def Leppard.

It should come as no surprise that cute ranger was late to pick us up this morning and that after only four hours of sleep, Charlotte York and I were nodding off during this morning’s game drive.

Open bar

Internets, I'm not a young panda anymore. In olden times, I was able to go out on a weeknight, drink heavily and function properly the next day. This doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

Last night, Q Bar hosted its grand opening party with a celebratory open bar for three hours. Of course, I was there to take advantage of the deal and to spend a rowdy Thursday night with my pals.

Puppy and I arrived nearly two hours into the party and the place was packed full of sweaty folks who were already tanked. There were big men dancing on tables, little men shoving their faces with food, cute girls twirling on the dance floor and very hard-working bartenders trying to keep up with the madness.

It was a fun night, but I definitely am feeling the after-effects today. Thank goodness no one else on my team is in the office!

What's cooking?

Since I moved into my new home, I've been trying all sorts of new recipes and learning my way around the kitchen. It's been great having a kitchen that I actually use and I've really been enjoying my meals. These dinner parties have also been a great way to catch up with friends and I feel less obligated to have a messy housewarming party where my home gets ransacked.

Keeping with this theme, I left work early yesterday and made a tasty herb-crusted pork loin accompanied by a cauliflower gratin. Beetle, Mattress, Blanca and Puppy came over and helped me polish off the food, including a carrot cake which I picked up the night before for zero dollars! (The lady at the store decided to just give it to me for free.)

Six bottles of wine, one laser pointer and one fluffy ball on a stick later, Stefano DiMera was tired out and we were off to sleepytime.

This is your birthday song

To celebrate Lucy Ricardo's birthday, Beetle organized a little Japanese dinner last night. Since Lucy Ricardo doesn't eat sushi, it was pretty clear the objective was to partake in sake bombs and make as big a mess as possible!

Beetle taught us the TGIFriday's birthday song, which we punctuated with table-pounding and sake bomb chugging and generally made others in the restaurant wish they'd eaten someplace else.

Naturally, after we finished up our meal, we headed to Juanita MORE's Booty Call party and snapped photos. Panda!!!! was called out during one photo for being particularly disruptive to previous backdrops. Sorry!

Birthday booty call

To celebrate my birthday last night, Puppy took me to a lovely dinner at Nopa, where I dined on all sorts of delicious carbs (It was my birthday!).

And afterward, it was the grand re-opening of Juanita MORE's booty call party at the new Q Bar (which is exactly the same as the old Bar on Castro). So, we met up with Roommates A&J, Lezzies N&P, Dyson, Kitten and other crazy creatures of the night to drink and dance and take photos. People may have been there for the return of booty call, but I like to think it was my birthday celebration that brought them out.

At one point, Puppy got me a purple shot that flummoxed the bartenders. He had to explain the ingredients, then he insisted I drink it. So I did. And thus, my 33rd year begins just as many others have: hungover.

Sake bomb birthday

To celebrate Mahogany Sparkle's birthday last night, we all went sake bombing! 15 of us gathered in a tiny sushi joint and scared the bejeebus out of the other patrons. We had approximately 20 sake bombs and three pieces of sushi each and made a complete mess of the table!

As we did our second sake bomb, I noticed a girl at the table next to us scream and cover her ears in fright. And for that moment alone, the celebration was totally worth it!

Drinksgiving

Since the night before Thanksgiving typically is one of the most fun nights of the year, I was eager to hit the town with my friends. Throbby was in town from New York so I met him, Roommates A&J and Lezzies N&P down at the bar. We hopped around a bit, but of course ended up at Juanita MORE's Booty Call party, which was incredibly crowded. As expected, GarGar and Kitten ended up there as well and we drank a bit too much, took a few photos and celebrated the holiday as gaily as possible.

When it got too crowded and I got too antsy, I went next door where it was equally crowded so I stayed only for one more drink. I caught up with Gymnocent and Turtle, but eventually returned home to eat cheese and crackers while I watched an episode of Friday Night Lights.

And now that it's Thanksgiving, I've been draining my DVR while waiting to get together with my family. I'm looking forward to eating my weight in stuffing!

Celeb sighting: Blind

Last night at Booty Call Wednesdays, after Juanita MORE warmed up the crowd, Kim Ann Foxman of Hercules and Love Affair took the reins and spun some fun dancey tunes. Coincidentally, I downloaded their most recent album just last week and have been listening to the song "Blind" over and over again.

I read that Hercules and Love Affair are performing at some sort of benefit event this weekend, so that explains why the band's members are in town. It was a pretty early night for this panda though. I can't hang on the weeknights like I used to!

'Til now, I always got by on my own

It's been a long time since I've made it out to '80s night, but last night we made our own return to the '80s at the Cheap Trick/Heart/Journey concert!

Mattress rented a ginormous white van and shuttled 12 of us across the Bay Bridge to the sold-out venue. Given rush-hour traffic and all the thousands of concert-goers, we were stuck among all the slow, slow cars. All the parking lots were full, but Mattress did some fancy maneuvering and barrelled our way into a spot. I guess other cars just move out of the way when a huge white van full of rowdy passengers flips a bitch and tears into a parking lot.

We ended up missing Cheap Trick, but luckily we caught Heart. And of course, the highlight was when they performed "Alone." And let me just say that Ann Wilson has an amazing voice. She can totally belt out the power ballads and get the crowd going.

Of course, I had to purchase a concert t-shirt as a souvenir, and I managed to drunkenly lift an additional t-shirt while PorkChop distracted the vendor lady. I sort of thought she saw me take it, but I guess she didn't, so I ended up with two!

Journey was also very good, but it is kind of weird to witness a Filipino man who sounds exactly like Steve Perry. I think half the audience was Filipino and I heard several people shout out, "Yeah Pinoy!" Those Filipino truly are a proud people.

Montréal à minuit

After spending all day with my co-workers, and since I'd never been to Montreal before, I decided I had to reward myself with a night out on the town. I took an ex's advice and hit the gay village, where the city's infamous boy strip bars are located.

To tell the truth, I found them kind of boring, with obviously straight men posturing and teasing the few patrons in the room. After the strippers performed, they would roam around the audience, trying to befriend the bar-goers and inviting them into the back for a "private dance." I like to think that it's because I don't look desperate, but I think I just look poor or something because at the first bar, none of the dancers approached me. More likely, it was probably because I had a look of shame/horror/disgust on my face. But at the second bar, I drank a bit more, loosened up and accepted one particularly stunning performer's invitation. I lasted only two songs though, because I couldn't really afford more than that and because my puritanical American guilt set in. When I let the dancer know that I was done, he complimented me on my willpower. At least I think it was a compliment! But I understand now why so many people go to Montreal for bachelor parties!

At around midnight, I decided it was time to return to the hotel and I was surprised that no one seemed to be out and about. In fact, all the bars seemed pretty empty, especially for a warm Thursday night. I walked along the streets and noticed the abundance of cabs, and noticed that the bar-hoppers who were out all looked very, very young. I guess they were mostly in their late teens, which I found a bit disconcerting.

Also along my walk, I watched a brawl develop and spill into the street. Two young men were wailing on each other, causing traffic to stop and onlookers to pause. Their friends were yelling at them in French and English to stop, but I guess the beef between them was too strong because they were still going after I passed out of earshot.

The highlight of my night out had to be the poutine. Puppy told me that it was his favorite part of Montreal, and I can see why. I don't really understand how this delicious late-night snack hasn't made it south of the border, but it's probably for my belly's best. I'm not even sure how it was prepared because it looked like they shoved the fries into the oven before pouring on the cheese curds and gravy. In any case, it was totes delish.

Al fresco feasting

The weather has been so lovely in San Francisco, and last night proved to be too irresistible to stay in. Dyson, GarGar and I went to Ducca for its weekly Wednesday night outdoor barbeque and enjoyed some roast pork and barbeque octopus for dinner. It's become quite a popular attraction, and since they don't take reservations, Dyson and I hovered around tables that looked like they were nearing the completion of their meals and pounced on one as soon as they received their bill. GarGar had just returned from a trip to Spain and Morocco, so it was nice to hear all about his travels while sipping on wine in the cool evening air.

It was Juanita MORE's birthday celebration last night so after dinner we met up with Mahogany Sparkle, Roommates A&J and Blanca, who had been picnicking in Dolores Park. As expected, the celebration was joyous and merry, with free-flowing booze and carefree boys. Kitten and Puppy also showed up, so we spent much time taking glamour shots in the back room, against the Dior-themed backdrop.

Ages of pride

The pride parties continue! Last night, Blanca, Roommates A&J and I hit two very different pride kick-off events.

First up was a party hosted by Kimpton Hotels, where I'm pretty sure we were some of the youngest party-goers in attendance. We were surprised to find a cash bar and a buffet table of carbs! The DJ played gay anthems from the early '90s and a very loud drag queen tried to get everyone to sing some sort of obnoxious song. We quickly downed our two drinks (we'd been bamboozled into buying drink tickets) and exited pride-fest circa 1995.

After a pit-stop at Jack in the Box, we hit the pride party at the Diesel store downtown. Unlike the Kimpton party, we felt like the oldest patrons in attendance! Fortunately, the bar was open, the hors d'oeuvres were tastier and the music was more contemporary. The DJ even played "Damaged" at my request, resulting in a bunch of gays and girls jumping up and down and squealing. Prec was at the Diesel party, but he was saving up his drinking and energy for the weekend. Meanwhile, GarGar and Dyson arrived just as we left to go to the bar.

After the past two nights, I'm not sure how I can pride it up for the rest of the weekend!

Cameo call

Since I've been out of town so much lately, I felt the itch to re-connect with my SF homo haunts last night. Being a Wednesday, the obvious choice was to head down to Booty Call, which incidentally won the title of "Best New Gay Club Night" in SF Weekly.

Because I'm a working panda, I went in on the early side so I could hang out with Beetle for a while and catch up. I sadly missed his and Mattress's birthday/AIDS ride/Memorial Day blow-out BBQ, which was apparently a lot of fun even without a panda in the midst.

It was also Kitten's debut as a go-go dancer, so I felt I should be supportive even if I wasn't keen on watching him gyrate in his tighty whities for dolla billz. (Un)fortunately, I also left on the early side so I missed his performance.

I also got a chance to catch up with GarGar whose travel schedule is the opposite of mine. Just as I return to town, he exits. And vice versa for the next few weeks.

The photo theme last night was cameo and everyone was taking profile pictures against a large velvet oval. I'm not a fan of my profile, so I'll have to see how it turns out, but I have a feeling it won't be my next Facebook shot.