My night on "Liberty Ave."

There is something positively surreal about walking toward Church street and passing "burnt offerings⁴" to a bunch of beautiful Gay boys, then heading up the steps into Woody's. It was the beginning of a great night.

Our group consisted of a group of QAF fans, some gorgeous guys and Sco-Lo Stephanie even came out. From the pool table to the porn videos, Woody's felt like home. It was also where I tried my first blue loaded... and I do mean loaded... soda.I'd heard about them from my hostess Shelly, but you have to have a few to appreciate them. It tastes like a kool pop with vodka. It's an Emmett sort of drink and it is entirely too easy to drink too many of them.

From there we went to Tango's, where one of our boys passed out from the heat. We found some couches by the pool table and everyone chilled for a while. Stephanie and I read cards and encouraged each other to drink entirely too much. (Note to self - mixing shots of Cuervo and blue loaded sodas might not be the best idea...)

We started to go to a place called 5ive but one of our party couldn't get in, so we headed for The Barn. What an awesome club. If you took one of the old warehouse parties I used to go to and crossed it with a bit of Babylon, you'd get The Barn. I had so much fun, I was actually dancing in public. Do you have any idea what it takes to get me to dance in public? (If you said 10 shots of cuervo, 5 blue loaded sodas, liberal and frequent offerings of sacred herbs⁴ and a pack a HDGB's ⁵ insisting that I do so, you win.) I may not have been dancing well at that point, but I did dance and so did the rest of the girls. Our hostess Shelly can always be counted upon to take the fun to the next level, and I'm pretty sure some of the things she did that night had never been done in that place by a woman with a gay guy before...

After that, we got pizza and headed back to the boys apt. for a slumber party.Tristen even gave a little fashion show, having made his drag debut just the night before. He looked so good in my red Chanel Lipstick that I gave it to him. Thanks to Ian, James, Silvane, Mark, and especially Ron and Tristen for a great time.

This trip was just amazing. Special thanks to Shelly for letting us stay at her place and have a little taste of her life. Thanks to Mimi and Rikka for being there to share the fun. Thanks to Tanya and Bobbie Jo.Thanks to Rebecca for the place to sleep.

I can't tell you how important this trip was for me. I've been sick for several years and this is the first thing I've done that didn't involve immediate family and long-time friends. It has renewed my faith in myself. From having Thea's arms wrapped around me, to my night on Church St., to looking into a very special pair of Hazel Eyes...

Dreams come true, they really do.