Well okay then
So I said I was going to write about this on Monday, but I'm lazy. Here we go.
"I LEFT MY CELL IN SAN FRANCISCO"
Friday: I pick up the rental car (which I have rented cause I don't relish the idea of being Jason Bateman driving the staircar through the winding, narrow streets of SF). The drive was fine and uneventful, and my first stop is the home of Brett, who I am crazy about. It's around 5:30p when I get there, and we decide to go grab a drink at this local Irish pub very very close to him. We do some catching up, and talk about other online people. It is a universal truth that when two online friends get together, they will spend about 86.3% of that time together gossiping about other online people. THEN I GOT TO MEET YURI, who was high on my list of people I must meet. Yuri and Nick were both not really up for crazy bar scene socializing (Nick works FOREVER), so Brett and I went out together and did the usual Castro pub crawl: Midnight Sun, Moby Dick, Pilsner Inn. Someone (a regular, according to Brett), has a very distressing flatulence problem at Midnight Sun. Then I took a cab home from Brett's, and I lost my cell phone in the cab. NO MORE CELL PHONE FOR MATT. Nick and Yuri had fixed up their guest bedroom with a teddy bear and a piece of chocolate resting on the pillow. Such Gentlemen. How lucky I am to know them.
Saturday: THE BIG WEDDING. Nick, Yuri, Brett, and I do gay brunch (I have for years entertained the idea of writing a spoof of Sondheim's "The Ladies Who Lunch" called "The Homos Who Brunch" but remember how I'm lazy?) After that we go back to Nick/Yuri's, Yuri and I listen to and talk about music while Nick works (remember how Nick works too much?), and then it's time to get ready for the wedding! Of my internet friend who I've never met and her ass-kicking fiance! Here's what I wrote about that, over at the other place:
"It was lovely, really. It was at this former clubhouse that has a courtyard in front where the ceremony was, and inside is the reception area and dinner tables. Really cute and San Francisco-y.
"So Nick and Yuri and I got all duded up in our suits and headed over there, where we met up with the Pancakes crowd (We were all seated at what we called the invisible online table.) I got to meet Leonard Pierce and Kuda Bux and Christian Claiborne and Nina Farina and Amie and Legume, which was loads of fun. We had some wine, we chatted. It had threatened to rain that day, but right before the ceremony it stopped, so crisis averted. Ginger looked awesome, the Ninja is hot, the ceremony was short and very sweet, and tinged with Beatles music and a Billy Idol reference, just to keep the mood light. It was very very nice, and Yuri and I both got a little misty, though he'll deny that.
"Then we went in and ate, and had some more wine. Stephen R. was there, whipping up a dessert storm. The man, unsurprisingly, can fucking cook. So it was fun to see him in his element.
"Ginger had this thing where, instead of a guest book, she had a polaroid camera and all the guests were supposed to take pictures of themselves, put them in the book and sign them. So I corralled Nick and Yuri and Stephen and the four of us took a picture together. Then I put it in the book and signed it, "To Ginger and the Ninja, Congratulations! Love, The Homosexuals!"
"Also Stephen, Ginger and I took a JMG-style camera-at-arms-length photo, which didn't really work out cause ginger and I were both smiling and only Stephen did the proper scowl, but he's going to email it to me anyway so I can post it."
It was great to see kitchenbeard again, who I adore, and to meet ludickid and Nina and Christian and Kuda. When I first met Leonard, he was manning the Polaroid table, and I'm not sure he knew who I was, and I was too shy to be like, "It's ME!", cause he's so so one of those writers I admire (I sort of expected him and Christian to be these giant floating force-field-encased brains. In a loving way, I mean.) and also I'm always a little surprised when online people turn out to exist. I was talking to Nick and Yuri at the wedding and I was all, "I can't believe they're real!" But he and all of us got to know each other at the dinner table and it couldn't have been better.
Long story short: Great Wedding.
Then we went back to Nick/Yuri's, and Nick wasn't feeling good and Yuri was tired, so I forced Brett to take me out and amuse me, and we played a little pinball and talked lots more, all of which was good. Brett's such a great guy, so honest and smart. This weekend was one of those that reminded me how true and real these friendships are. You know? Cause sometimes people are all, "What do you mean you talk to them on the computer? You don't even KNOW them!" But after six years of pretty much daily conversations, you do. These people are my friends.
Sunday: Gay Brunch. Again! The gays and their brunch! This one was good cause I got to talk to Stephen, who had been so busy at the wedding that we didn't really get the chance to talk. So brunch was at Harvey's, smack in the middle of Gay Central (it's where Nick and Yuri go for trivia night!) then we walked around the Castro and shopped. Stephen bought a hoodie that I suggested (jokingly! JOKINGLY!) made him look like the Unabomber, but he bought it anyway. I bought a couple CDs (Wicked and William Finn's Elegies) and Stephen gave me shit for hanging out in the showtune section. Then he said goodbye, Yuri and I went back to his place for a bit, I swung by Brett's to say goodbye to him, and then I was off. Which is where the weird crying jag thing happened. So now you're all caught up!
OH! Except I forgot to talk about all the foreign tv I saw this weekend! Okay, I'll never get to all that, so I'll just say this. The episode of Kath and Kim where they do "The Hours! The Musical!" is brilliant. Sample Line: "She's crazy! She's crazy! She's altogether crazy! Sheeee's Virginia Wooooooolllllff!"
And there you have it.
"I LEFT MY CELL IN SAN FRANCISCO"
Friday: I pick up the rental car (which I have rented cause I don't relish the idea of being Jason Bateman driving the staircar through the winding, narrow streets of SF). The drive was fine and uneventful, and my first stop is the home of Brett, who I am crazy about. It's around 5:30p when I get there, and we decide to go grab a drink at this local Irish pub very very close to him. We do some catching up, and talk about other online people. It is a universal truth that when two online friends get together, they will spend about 86.3% of that time together gossiping about other online people. THEN I GOT TO MEET YURI, who was high on my list of people I must meet. Yuri and Nick were both not really up for crazy bar scene socializing (Nick works FOREVER), so Brett and I went out together and did the usual Castro pub crawl: Midnight Sun, Moby Dick, Pilsner Inn. Someone (a regular, according to Brett), has a very distressing flatulence problem at Midnight Sun. Then I took a cab home from Brett's, and I lost my cell phone in the cab. NO MORE CELL PHONE FOR MATT. Nick and Yuri had fixed up their guest bedroom with a teddy bear and a piece of chocolate resting on the pillow. Such Gentlemen. How lucky I am to know them.
Saturday: THE BIG WEDDING. Nick, Yuri, Brett, and I do gay brunch (I have for years entertained the idea of writing a spoof of Sondheim's "The Ladies Who Lunch" called "The Homos Who Brunch" but remember how I'm lazy?) After that we go back to Nick/Yuri's, Yuri and I listen to and talk about music while Nick works (remember how Nick works too much?), and then it's time to get ready for the wedding! Of my internet friend who I've never met and her ass-kicking fiance! Here's what I wrote about that, over at the other place:
"It was lovely, really. It was at this former clubhouse that has a courtyard in front where the ceremony was, and inside is the reception area and dinner tables. Really cute and San Francisco-y.
"So Nick and Yuri and I got all duded up in our suits and headed over there, where we met up with the Pancakes crowd (We were all seated at what we called the invisible online table.) I got to meet Leonard Pierce and Kuda Bux and Christian Claiborne and Nina Farina and Amie and Legume, which was loads of fun. We had some wine, we chatted. It had threatened to rain that day, but right before the ceremony it stopped, so crisis averted. Ginger looked awesome, the Ninja is hot, the ceremony was short and very sweet, and tinged with Beatles music and a Billy Idol reference, just to keep the mood light. It was very very nice, and Yuri and I both got a little misty, though he'll deny that.
"Then we went in and ate, and had some more wine. Stephen R. was there, whipping up a dessert storm. The man, unsurprisingly, can fucking cook. So it was fun to see him in his element.
"Ginger had this thing where, instead of a guest book, she had a polaroid camera and all the guests were supposed to take pictures of themselves, put them in the book and sign them. So I corralled Nick and Yuri and Stephen and the four of us took a picture together. Then I put it in the book and signed it, "To Ginger and the Ninja, Congratulations! Love, The Homosexuals!"
"Also Stephen, Ginger and I took a JMG-style camera-at-arms-length photo, which didn't really work out cause ginger and I were both smiling and only Stephen did the proper scowl, but he's going to email it to me anyway so I can post it."
It was great to see kitchenbeard again, who I adore, and to meet ludickid and Nina and Christian and Kuda. When I first met Leonard, he was manning the Polaroid table, and I'm not sure he knew who I was, and I was too shy to be like, "It's ME!", cause he's so so one of those writers I admire (I sort of expected him and Christian to be these giant floating force-field-encased brains. In a loving way, I mean.) and also I'm always a little surprised when online people turn out to exist. I was talking to Nick and Yuri at the wedding and I was all, "I can't believe they're real!" But he and all of us got to know each other at the dinner table and it couldn't have been better.
Long story short: Great Wedding.
Then we went back to Nick/Yuri's, and Nick wasn't feeling good and Yuri was tired, so I forced Brett to take me out and amuse me, and we played a little pinball and talked lots more, all of which was good. Brett's such a great guy, so honest and smart. This weekend was one of those that reminded me how true and real these friendships are. You know? Cause sometimes people are all, "What do you mean you talk to them on the computer? You don't even KNOW them!" But after six years of pretty much daily conversations, you do. These people are my friends.
Sunday: Gay Brunch. Again! The gays and their brunch! This one was good cause I got to talk to Stephen, who had been so busy at the wedding that we didn't really get the chance to talk. So brunch was at Harvey's, smack in the middle of Gay Central (it's where Nick and Yuri go for trivia night!) then we walked around the Castro and shopped. Stephen bought a hoodie that I suggested (jokingly! JOKINGLY!) made him look like the Unabomber, but he bought it anyway. I bought a couple CDs (Wicked and William Finn's Elegies) and Stephen gave me shit for hanging out in the showtune section. Then he said goodbye, Yuri and I went back to his place for a bit, I swung by Brett's to say goodbye to him, and then I was off. Which is where the weird crying jag thing happened. So now you're all caught up!
OH! Except I forgot to talk about all the foreign tv I saw this weekend! Okay, I'll never get to all that, so I'll just say this. The episode of Kath and Kim where they do "The Hours! The Musical!" is brilliant. Sample Line: "She's crazy! She's crazy! She's altogether crazy! Sheeee's Virginia Wooooooolllllff!"
And there you have it.