Philly Review pt. 1

So, I'm back from Philly and starting to get caught up with everything back here. While it was a busy weekend and there's plenty I can blog about, without a doubt the most important thing for me is remembering the the people I had a chance to meet and get to know, if only a bit.

I was staying with my friend Eric (on the right), who lives across the river in New Jersey. While we had gone to Notre Dame together, we spent virtually the entire weekend together. Anyone willing to put up with me for that length of time deserves a medal.

We ran into one of the Phoenix boys, Joel (standing next to me), at Bump on Thursday night. It's always fun to have Joel around and having been in Philly only a few hours, it was great to see a friendly face in what was, at the time, a very unfamiliar city. Bump is a trendy martini bar, and for those who are familiar with the scene here in Phoenix, reminds me of a cross between Amsterdam and AZ88. Eric described Bump as the McDonald's of the Philly gay scene, in that we'd generally stop there when we needed to use the bathroom, much as you'd do when you're travelling abroad. Also in that particular photo is Chris, who reminded me (physically) of Jesse Martin of Law & Order fame.

Another revelation about the Philadelphia gay scene is that everyone is named Mark or Eric, which means I fit right in. They all have track lighting, too. I met a few more Marks when I was there, though I don't have any photographic proof of that. The problem with listing out everyone I met this weekend is figuring out just what to write about each of them -- where the hell do you start? With Alex, Everett, Jeff, Han, Rick or the go go dancer who looked like an even more buffed out and sweaty Tahmoh Penniket wearing nothing but a pair of black Calvin Klein briefs, who I think was named Wes?

While meeting a hot go go dancer that looks like Helo might seem like the high point of the weekend, the more I mull over the weekend, the more amazed I am that I was able to meet so many new people in such a short span of time and yet still manage to have moments with almost each of them that made me want to come back and experience more. Note to the Universe: More of this, please!