Pride Weekend, Part 2

[lance_sibley]

I was supposed to be downtown for 10 this morning to help out with the Polaris flyer crawl, but since I didn't get to bed until 4, I didn't wake up until 11 (which was still surprisingly early under the circumstances). As I left my building, I called kaelsu2 to ask what was going on, and she told me that the group was down at Nathan Phillips Square, so I made my way down there to join them and find out what remained to be done. They hadn't yet covered Church Street, so Declan was voluntold to join me in posting flyers over there.

We made our way over and started around Church and Gerrard, posting flyers on hydro poles on either side of the street as we made our way up. We also got permission to post a flyer on the inside of the window at Timothy's (which, for the non-locals, is the coffee shop that everyone goes to after the bars let out, since the Second Cup up the street with the famous steps closed), and we posted one on the door of each of several Johnny-on-the-spots that were set up for the Pride festivities. (Hey, where there's a captive audience... if people have to stand in line to pee, they now have something to read when they get to the front of the line.) We also gave a couple away to people whom we noticed intently reading the flyers after we'd put them up.

While we were working on Church Street, I spotted a booth that was selling something I just had to buy for someone. I knew that there was a badge laminating party for Polaris taking place, so I called twiddler and asked him, "Does anyone there know what size t-shirt (name deleted because he might be reading this) wears?" When I told him why I was asking, his laughter nearly burst my eardrum. This should be amusing at tomorrow's concom meeting. :)

The Dyke March started up on Church just north of Wellesley while we were working, so we followed the parade route up to Bloor, across to Yonge and back down Yonge, posting flyers as we went. We were posting one on Yonge when I suddenly realized that the woman standing next to us, watching the Dyke March, was someone I know from the bowling league, so I said hi, confirming to Declan that I know everyone.

I was also stopped on no fewer than five occasions because I was wearing my True Colors t-shirt today. Everyone wanted to know if I was at the concert. (No, I mugged someone afterwards for the shirt...) Nearly all of them wanted to know if the Dresden Dolls sang "Coin-Operated Boy", though one person did ask about Erasure and Debbie Harry as well.

As we were running out, we came to the store where the guy I met last night works, and Declan said, "Well, go on - get in there." He was on a stepladder dusting, so I walked over and said, "I said I would stop in and say hi, so here I am - hi!" I also gave him a flyer, so we'll see if he comes to the con at some point... we didn't stay very long, though.

After we were done, Declan headed off and I called Doug to find out what he, Ken and Scott were up to. They were having lunch, but said that they'd call back later when they were done. In the meantime, I wandered the stalls on Church to see if there was anything I wanted, but there wasn't - I didn't care for this year's t-shirt design. I did see a few interesting things, though:

• The RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police and Toronto Police all had recruiting booths. I don't normally find police officers all that attractive, but they sent some real cuties this year.


• Toronto-Dominion Bank had a booth where people could fill out Visa card applications. They had four or five extremely buff guys wearing nothing but Speedos (in the same shade of green as their corporate logo) working the booth.


• Motorola had a booth where they were selling cell phones, and they had a bunch of young guys walking around shirtless whose upper bodies had been painted in the same shade of red as their corporate logo. That was only interesting because I wanted to walk up to several of them and offer them a sandwich. Motorola is obviously the cell phone company of choice for anorexics.


• Trojan had a booth - I'm not sure if they were selling condoms, or giving them away. But their staff was composed of several buff young guys wearing Roman soldier outfits. Yummy.

Yeah, I'm a slut-wannabe and can be as shallow as the rest of them when I'm looking at cute boys. But you all knew that already, I'm sure...

Doug called around 4ish and invited me up to their hotel room to hang out for a bit, so I did. We then decided to go out and wander around for a bit and do some shopping, and we ended up going to Fiddler's Green first for a pitcher (okay, three pitchers) of beer. I hadn't eaten yet, so I also had a club sandwich while we were there, for which someone apparently picked up the tab while I was in the washroom. Following Fiddler's Green, Doug went back to their hotel to get ready for some big event tonight (a leather ball, I think it is). Ken, Scott and I ended up going to Pegasus for yet another beer, where I ran into Troy, Clint, Rick and Michael from bowling, proving to Ken and Scott that I know everyone. *sigh* We sat by the window so that Ken could take pictures of all the hustle and bustle (and the other kind of hustle ;) ) going on outside.

They decided to head back to the hotel to get ready for tonight around 9, and invited me to come along, but the whole leather scene isn't really my thing, and the alcohol I'd consumed was starting to assert its presence, so I decided to come home. They then invited me to join them tomorrow night for dinner after the concom meeting, so I'm thinking I'll probably do that. I was thinking that I might go out again tonight after I've gotten some rest, but the lineups to get into the bars are going to be horrendous, and I do have a meeting tomorrow afternoon. Not to mention that I've already had four pints of beer in the past six hours or so...