Last week was busy and I've been doing the social thing so much that I've not posted for over a week. Let's see, then...

Pride weekend I visited a friend at his place on Vashon Island, it was a good way to avoid the crowds, although we did drive downtown and up to Capital Hill for some used book hunting. Sunday night I made my traditional visit to the Vogue. The crowd there was interesting, as it often is. Monday, I met up with my Vashon Island friend at Uwajimaya so he could give me a few things I'd left at his place. Tuesday, I contacted a friend I regularly see at the Vogue, Sunday nights, and he invited me to accompany him to the Mercury Room, a private club which he is a member. That night was relatively quiet there, but we did meet another friend of his, who I've known by sight for many years. The next night, Wednesday, my Mercury Room friend and I walked over to Top Pot, the other Zeitgeist on Summit, and we had some coffee there. Thursday was the Fourth and my friend Maxwell, who is a very talented artist, wanted to see a movie in the afternoon. We ended up seeing MIIB, which was entertaining, if a bit predictable. That evening, I'd been invited to attend Pistilbooks's Wall o' Bad Art and Barbecue, so I called up some friends and invited them to join me: Carolyn and my pal Frank. While we were waiting for the bus, my friend Chris Crounse, who's been visiting New York, Tucson, Kansas City, and all points in between, walked by and I had a hasty conversation with him. It was pure chance that I saw him, although he was thinking about stopping by my apartment to see if I was home. Now he's off again, who knows where...

Anyway, the barbecue was great, we got to see the fireworks from a neighbors roof, and we all got to bed reasonably early. Okay, I hear one or two of us was too wound up to go right to bed, but I ain't saying who. Unfortunately, I had to work the next day and that night Carolyn was taking me to the Clarion party that was host in Wallingford on Friday. It was interesting and I met some more people, but I have to admit I was feeling the toll of late nights almost every night this week. The next morning, since I hadn't heard from Purple all week and I didn't know how long his family obligations were going for, I decided to attend Faery Coffee, which is being held at Vivace after being asked to leave Caffe Vitta. At coffee, I was invited to a party at the Smudge House, which is a house I've know about for many years but never had the occasion to visit. There were several handsome fellows there named Mark, or some variant on the name, but no Purple Mark. That evening, Carolyn had an accident that found her calling around to find someone to drive her to the nearest emergency room. I came home to a couple of tense messages on my phone, but since she didn't pick up when I returned the call, I could only assume she managed to find someone.

The next day I got the whole story, but I won't relate it here without her permission. I called her and made sure she was going to brunch, which turned out to be just me and her. That evening I started feeling really under the weather and Purple called me to find out if I'd be at the Vogue. He'd survived his family and I begged off attending Fetish night. The next morning I had a sore throat but went into work anyway. As the day progressed it worsened and I was afraid I'd loose my voice if I went to work the next day. So I've been hanging out at home for the past two days, trying to bring my health back to where it was over a week ago. Not entirely enjoyable, as I'm still coughing a dry hack and mucus is draining down my throat. I hate summer colds. I'm going to try to work tomorrow. Wish me luck.