This morning was the D.C. Gay Bloggers Brunch. While driving east on 66 into the city I almost had a panic attack. In my rear view mirror I saw a bright red civic with an OU license plate on the front. My heart began to race. As it passed me, I couldn’t see inside the blacked out windows (just like his). There’s no way it could have been him. But then when I saw the rear plate I almost drove off the road. It was an Oklahoma license plate. Everything from the last few weeks rushed back into my head and I almost couldn’t breath. Within a minute the car was gone and I was regaining my ability to breath. I certainly didn’t need that crap messing up my mind this morning. I did my best to put it out of my head.

I arrived in D.C. about 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet. I drove around for just a few minutes looking for parking. I found a decent spot near the intersection of 17th and P. I had time to kill so I walked around Dupont Circle and took some pictures of the architecture and the famous fountain. The sun was baring down on me. It was hot, and humid. I’ve always been one to sweat easily in the heat. The sweat was quickly forming in the usual places. I thought I’d look like crap when I get to this brunch.

I walked back to Trio’s where the brunch was to be held and saw Chrisafer (thanks again for coordinating this). He was the only one I recognized. I introduced myself to everyone and sat down. The instant they introduced themselves, their names left my mind. I’m never good at remembering names right off the bat. I need to associate something to their name. I kept thinking about their blogs, many of which I don’t read, and never heard of. There were about 6 guys there at that time. We chatted briefly and waited for others to show up while we ordered drinks. Over the next 15 to 20 minutes another 11 guys showed up and the table grew longer and longer. It stretched from one end of Trio’s patio to the other. We had taken up one entire end of the patio. This set up did not make it easy to talk to everyone. Boi from Troy sat across from me, Chrisafer to my left, and Articulatory Loop to my right. At the end of my section of the table were DCJoe, Cuteyoboy, and Devil’s Advocacy. I only remember DCJoe’s name because he was very good looking and his name is in his blog name. We all proceeded to order, talk, and eat. All of these guys seemed really nice. I didn’t really get to talk to too many of them so I can’t really say much about them. I’m hoping someone will list all those who attended as well as their blog addresses so I can check them out. I should have taken some paper and pen with me so I could have recorded their addresses. I’d like to check out their blogs but I don’t know all of them. After a few hours of talking, eating, and being quiet, guys started to leave. After a few left, I decided I should go too. I said my goodbyes and said it was nice meeting everyone. I walked back to my car and came home.

One thing I know for sure. I’m old. I was easily the oldest member of that group. Besides two guys at the other end of the table who were in their early to mid 30’s, everyone else was in their 20’s. They talked about collage, bars and clubs, other blogs I don’t read, basically younger things. I just listened in mostly. I realize that I really only have two things in common with these guys. 1) We’re gay, and 2) we write our own blogs. Don’t read anything into that. They were all very nice and very welcoming. It’s just that most 40 year olds don’t have much in common with 20somethings. And on top of this I was sweating like a pig the entire time. I’m sure some of them were wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I can’t help it. We were sitting on the patio. It was hot and humid. I sweat in conditions like this. If we were in a bar, with air conditioning, with drinks, with areas to move around and meet other people, I would have done much better. I would have talked more, met more guys, and been a better member of the group. And I was very quiet. If I had been standing next to a wall, I would have been the wall paper. Anyway, I did enjoy meeting these guys. As I said, they were all very nice and very welcoming. And I plan on reading some of their blogs regularly.