A Day Like All Days

I was looking at my Facebook Memories and saw the following post from 4 years ago:

When Gary used to work in local TV news, we used to play a game called "Inappropriate Music Beds" (the song that would play after a story as they went to commercial). For example, following up a story about a boat accident with "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".

As a result, today I have "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter stuck in my head. I leave the reason as an exercise for the reader.

Puzzled, I did a search and found the Wikipedia article 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, which has the reference I was looking for to make sense of the post (emphasis mine):

During a press conference on the shootings, Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department paraphrased what Long told investigators about his motives, saying "he was pretty much fed up and kind of at the end of his rope, and I guess it was a really bad day for him and this is what he did."

Posting this strictly so I never have to look this up again. Sheesh...

SATURDAY

Gary got up with his alarm at 3 AM. Since I was already half awake, I got up about five after and shut off my alarm set for ten after. It didn't take long to finish packing, shower, and dress, and we were downstairs about five to four.

I called for a Lyft to Lynnwood Station about ten after four and, after a quiet ride on the freeway, we arrived just after 4:30. There was no train in the station so we figured it would be arriving on the northbound track as usual and changing tracks before we boarded. We sat in the rear car. As the train was about to leave, a couple of people raced from the elevator to board the train just as the doors closed; the operator saw them, though, and unlocked the doors so they could board. There weren't many people onboard.

We arrived at ID/Chinatown Station and walked across the street to King Street Station. After pictures on the plaza, we descended an outdoor staircase to the station entrance on the lower level. The doors were locked as the station wasn't open till six, about 20 minutes thence. So we waited by a planter box and listened to the surprisingly loud and uptempo Christmas music issuing from the hotel around the corner (no doubt to discourage camping outside the building). At six we entered the station and found seats on a large pew by our gate. I went to use the bathroom and when I returned, Gary decided to stand in the queue for the train even though we had an hour and change to wait. I sat and worked on my journal until half past six, then joined Gary in line.

Our train was a bit late leaving the maintenance yard, but we all were on board for an on-time departure - we were actually a minute early. Gary pointed out the Sunday Night Football production truck parked behind Lumen Field as we passed. A quartet of ladies across the aisle carried on an animated conversation en Español much of the trip. Gary remarked that it would be no different than us traveling by train in Europe and listening to the conversation in the local language (and not being the Ugly Americans).

Between Tacoma and Olympia, I bought us breakfast sandwiches and drinks in the café car from a big, cute cub with auburn hair and beard. At Olympia-Lacey, a Girl Scout troop boarded and traversed our car, followed by Santa and Mrs. Claus (Santa was thinner but had a naturally white beard). The Clauses left at the next stop in Centralia. As we passed Kalama, I made a joke about having tea there, and Gary responded, "Thanks, Dad." #dadjokes

Most everyone else left at Portland, including the Scouts and the Spanish speakers. I did overhear one of the ladies addressing her child on the phone: "¿Otra vez? Really?" About noon, right after we left Oregon City and got pictures of Willamette Falls from the top, I went to the café car for turkey sandwiches, cookies and drinks. As we approached the Salem station, Gary managed to get a picture of the gold statue atop the Oregon State Capitol. At Albany (which is pronounced like its NY namesake), the conductor told us it would be another 40 minutes to Eugene, placing our arrival right at two PM.

When the train reached Eugene, it passed the station and waited on the track beyond to wait for the northbound Coast Starlight to depart before reversing direction into the station. It was a short walk to the Graduate Hotel (Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me... aren't you?) I asked at the front desk and was told our room wouldn't be ready until four. We stashed our bags and went exploring.

Our first stop was the Japanese American art memorial regarding the WWII internment camps. I particularly noticed the University of Oregon eventually conferred degrees on the handful of students whose education was interrupted. From there we walked to the Farmers' Market Pavilion where the day's market was winding down. After perusing the food on offer, we took seats inside the pavilion and I looked for a place to mostly drink while we waited, as we'd had a late lunch and it was far too early for dinner. After looking at Manifest Brewery across the street, we decided on Perugino's Cafe which we'd passed on the way to the market. I had a chai latte with a cheese Danish, while Gary had hot chocolate with a blueberry muffin.

We returned to the hotel, waited in the lobby till four, then got checked in and set up. We got a room on the 11th floor with a nice mountain view to the south. The farmers' market had already packed up its tents and buttoned up the pavilion. We chilled in the room till it was time for dinner about 5:30. There were many people milling around, many in Marvelous Holiday Sweaters as we sang about years ago 😊. We asked a passing waitress if we could sit anywhere and she responded favorably. Gary ordered a ginger ale and a bowl of rigatoni, while I had a Two Towns marionberry cider and a smash burger with fries. Over dinner, Gary filled me in on the Heisman Trophy ceremony going on behind the bar on an overhead TV.

Afterwards, we caught a Lyft to the concert venue, the First United Methodist Church, in a comfortable SUV driven by a lady named Melissa. Once we'd entered the vestibule and purchased tickets, we took the opportunity for Pictures with Santa (who was apparently portrayed by the Daddy of the chorus artistic director, Evan) before taking our seats. The show was fabulous, including several pieces I'd done with my choruses. Afterwards Evan said hi as he passed by, and I had a nice chat with Oblio and introduced him to Gary. Oblio had just gotten an elaborate tattoo all over his bald scalp. Later Gary and I chatted with Colin, and he introduced his companion who fills the role of service dog (as evidenced by his response of barking as we were introduced and the fact he was pushing Colin's wheelchair).

We went out front and I called for a Lyft. While we waited, a nice-looking ginger-blond dude invited us to the Jameson bar for drinks, but Gary politely declined since we were already yawning from being up since three AM. Michael drove us back to the hotel in a Mercedes SUV at a fast clip, which I appreciated and tipped accordingly. After a spot of journaling and canoodling on the sofa, we got to sleep around eleven.

SUNDAY
Gary awoke about five AM and informed me our train was delayed about five hours. I looked up the situation online and found the delay was due to mechanical issues in Martinez, CA that required sending a rescue train from Oakland. I used the bathroom, responded to Oblio's Facebook post, and went back to sleep, delaying my alarm till 8:45 since Gary had set his to 8:30. As it happened, I rose for the day a few minutes early and dismissed the alarm. We showered, dressed, and packed up, and I noticed a text message offering to rebook us on a bus to Portland at one and a Cascades train to Seattle around four, arriving after nine. I relayed the news to Gary and he called Amtrak and got our new tickets on his phone.

That settled, we checked out of our room about 10:30, stashed bags once more, and crossed the street to have brunch at Jazzy Ladies Cafe and Club. We both had the Irish hash with corned beef, potatoes, Brussels sprouts, and an egg. Gary had cranberry juice, while I started with an apple cider mimosa and finished with a chai latte.

After brunch, about 20 to noon, we decided to retrieve our bags and head to the train station to wait for the 1:00 bus. I had a nice chat with Colleen, who was at one of the grandchildren's basketball game. I went outside when Gary pointed out my voice echoed loudly in the station, and I ended up making the call short because I'd left my jacket in the station and was getting cold. About quarter to one, we went to the bathroom and took our bags out front to board the bus. As we waited for the bus to arrive, we were approached by a nice dude named Marty who sang with the Portland chorus (but was currently on leave) and attended the concert last night.

We boarded the bus and were underway on time. A young mother with two children took the seat ahead of us, so Gary moved across the aisle to a vacant seat for comfort. The young dude behind me asked if I'd lost a wireless earbud he showed me, and I told him I hadn't. A while later, the mother asked if I'd seen an earbud and I directed her to "the gentleman behind me" and they figured out which earbud was hers. Her younger child (both were girls) was alternately happily babbling and screaming in discomfort; as we approached Portland, her older sister started whining about having a tummy ache and being tired and couldn't we go faster? That last remark was mistaken by her mother as an implication on the driver's parentage until she repeated herself and cleared the matter up.

We arrived in Portland a few minutes ahead of schedule and took our seats in the waiting room. I bought us each muffins, chocolate milk for Gary and a soda and hot crunchy snack mix for me. While we waited, the southern branch of the Empire Builder to Chicago boarded and departed on schedule. About 5:30 we joined the long and growing queue to board our train on the opposite side of the station. We were directed to our car by the conductor, a rather cute little black cub who reminded me of Isaac from the Love Boat. He did, however, have a definite no-nonsense attitude, both while asking everyone where they were headed and, once we had boarded, in announcing the rules. Gary remarked that it was clear he'd had to deal with a few too many drunk passengers before. In contrast, the engineer seemed rather laid-back, especially when he announced early in the trip we were stopped to let some "stupid freight trains" pass.

We got underway on time, and about an hour later as we were leaving Kelso, I bought us cheeseburgers, cookies, and drinks for dinner. When we arrived in Olympia, we stayed in the station for a few minutes while they sorted out a tree that had fallen on the tracks ahead of us. They were going to let people out to stretch, but decided to leave Olympia and wait closer to the incident. About ten to nine, the southbound train to Portland passed us and we were soon underway again.

We made it to King Street Station about ten. We took the inside elevator and got slightly turned around trying to find the exit to Jackson Street Plaza, but found it eventually. On the way to ID/Chinatown Station, a fellow asked us how to get to 13 Coins on King Street. Gary directed him down the stairs we used Saturday morning, then we hurried to cross 2nd Avenue Extension before the lights changed. There were many football fans gathered at the south end of the platform so we boarded the front car of the northbound train when it arrived not two minutes after we did. On the way, Gary suggested a Lyft home from Lynnwood Station instead of messing with the bus, and I agreed.

We were picked up by Yuri, a rather attractive dude in a fedora, light sweatshirt, and workout shorts. He drove a Kia Sedona, a good-sized SUV. Because he had a child seat in the back seat on the driver's side, he asked one of us to sit up front. I ended up riding shotgun and was treated to several whiffs of sweaty dude. 🙂 The music selection was interesting: Smoke on the Water, Radar Love, and finally Who Do You Love? We arrived home about 11:30. I texted Colleen to report our arrival, finished my journaling and prepared for bed.

SATURDAY

Woke up about ten to six to pee, and again about seven to sit on the toilet. I returned to bed to find Gary surfing the net so I joined him, wrapping up about eight to attempt to sleep. I actually snoozed a bit longer before my alarm went off at nine. We went to Zevi's Cafe next to the hotel for breakfast; Gary had French toast with lemonade, and I had scrambled eggs with veggies and gyros meat mixed in, a side of bacon, and a latte.

From breakfast we walked to the BART station at Powell Street, entered at 5th Street, topped up our Clipper cards, and exited at 4th Street headed for Target. As we left the station, my back started acting up, so we concluded our shopping quickly and returned to the room to rest. We'd planned to stop by Mr. S Leather on the way to the fair, so we just delayed our departure for an hour and left about one.

When we arrived at Mr. S, I was looking for a leather baseball cap and a lightweight leather shirt/jacket; unfortunately, they didn't carry that style of hat in leather (just Muir caps, the Civil War look, and the folding military style) and the perforated leather shirt I liked was $500. We chose souvenir T-shirts instead, Gary in blue print and me in yellow, both on black shirts. The cashier was pretty much completely naked but for a nose ring and shoes; he had interesting ink across his chest.

From the store we walked down Harrison Street till we reached the fair entrance at 10th Street. I showed the volunteers my email receipt and we were directed to the merchandise booth: "all the way to the red light, then left." As it happened, those directions led us to the beverage booth, but we figured it out and soon had our wristbands. That settled, we checked out the artwork on the block between 11th and 12th by the Eagle before returning to the Bear Lounge. We'd been seated there a while when Jon and Carl stopped by, having watched the deadlifting contest that concluded at two. We left shortly afterwards to watch the wrestling matches with theatrics worthy of WWE. About half past two we returned to the lounge to sit in the shade, and on the way I spotted Sister Shiso Panda from the Portland Sisters and we had a brief chat. We came back for the next phase of deadlifting at three. We watched the first two rounds, then walked over to the Eagle for drinks and people watching. I purchased an SF Eagle T-shirt with a boot print on it because it looked nice on the mannequin atop the bar.

Just after four we walked up 11th Street to Folsom and stopped by Eat Sushi for dinner. We split three maki rolls which were all tasty. Over dinner, Gary decided he'd had enough visual stimulation for the day, and we agreed to split up for the evening, with Gary returning to the hotel while I explored the fair on my own. After a bit of confusion over the bus reroute Gary decided to call Lyft for the trip back. I saw Gary off at the corner of Folsom and 11th, then returned to the Bear Lounge which was still busy with dancing until the fair ended at six.

From there I headed for the Lone Star Saloon. It was slow in the bar proper but getting busy on the patio. I managed to squeeze into a space on the back bench, where I met a fellow from New Orleans whose T-shirt (with a New Orleans hash tag on the back) I'd noticed in the Bear Lounge along with his friend's (with a fleur-de-lis substituted for the letter T on the front). The first fellow's name was Tom and his friend who I met later was Scott. After a while I needed to pee, so I waited for the trough urinal to clear and followed two younger dudes who, it turned out, weren't using the room for the same purpose. I finished my business and left them at theirs. I next had a conversation with one of the Portland Sisters, Sister Marmalaid (she wore a pin with her name spelled out in bright sparkly letters).

On my next bathroom trip I was greeted by Fant, a hot dude originally from Portugal who had been following me on Facebook for a while but who I hadn't yet met in person. The nickname is short for Fantom (Portuguese spelling of Phantom) which he'd gone by since childhood; it has nothing to do with Noah Fant from the Seahawks. Fant had been living in San Francisco for a long while, spent some time living in London, then moved to central New Jersey. When we returned to the patio he introduced me to his friend Charlie, a seventy-something bear, and we chatted for a while. In the middle of our conversation, Robert, the Asian cub Gary and I had met at Beareoke, stopped by to say hi.

I sat at the bar for a bit to say hi to Charlie the bartender, and met his colleague Shane while Charlie was occupied at the other end of the bar. I snapped a group picture of Charlie, Shane, and the barback behind the bar and sent it to Charlie via Messenger. Fant came over to the bar and hung out with Charlie and me, explaining that he and his friend were headed for dinner. Benny (Sister Shiso's alter ego) arrived shortly after that. A cute dark-haired cub named Freddy stopped by who was apparently also quite smitten with me. Later I went back to the patio, where I met a hot bear named David who was chatting with a blond dude about Linux and gaming PCs. Shortly after that I met the winner of the Best Beard contest, Matt, who looked very nice in his Smokey Bear T-shirt. While I was chatting with Matt, Fant returned on his own as Charlie, like Gary, had gone back to the hotel after dinner. I ended up having amazing make-out sessions with both Fant and Freddy before it was time to go.

I called a Lyft back to the hotel just before eleven. The driver had some relaxing jazz music on which I appreciated. Gary was already asleep when I arrived. I had some tea and Chex Mix before going to bed about 11:30.

THURSDAY

We got up at 5 AM and were packed, dressed, and had a light breakfast by quarter to seven. I called for a Lyft, and for the first time in recent memory we were driven by a lady, in a silver Prius that I had some difficulty entering and exiting. There were traffic and routing issues, most notably getting stuck behind an SUV going 20 MPH in a 30 zone, the GPS not considering HOV lanes and ramps, and the lack of signage pointing to the "kiss and ride" loop resulting in an awkward turn-around to avoid being forced onto the I-5 express lane. The train trip was fairly uneventful.

When we arrived at Sea-Tac, the shuttle cart was not available, but the walk wasn't bad. We got our bags dropped off at the bridge level and took advantage of the premium security queue at checkpoint 3. Our gate assignment changed twice while we made our way to the North Satellite, but we soon found seats near the gate. When it came time to board, a lady standing in the first class lane didn't step up when it was her turn, so people went around. I think she figured it out right after we checked in.

Our chief flight attendant was a tall, muscular Asian dude wearing a form-fitting T-shirt with his wings (badge) pinned to it. The safety demonstration kits were stowed directly over my head, and after the briefing was done, one of the ladies giving the demonstration told the other, "Don't you dare!" just before she stowed her kit. Not sure what that was about. Gary snoozed while we were taxiing to the runway for takeoff (into the south on 16L), and once we were airborne, I dozed as well until our hot flight attendant, now wearing an apron as well, verified our pre-ordered meals and took our drink orders. By the time we'd finished our lunch, it was almost time for final descent into SFO.

Once we had landed, we made a beeline for the restroom, retrieved our checked bags, and headed for the Airtrain to catch BART to the hotel. We ended up taking a Red Line train after almost boarding a Yellow Line train and finding a dude cashed out on the only immediately available seats (as the train operator signaled the doors to close for immediate departure). Along the way to the hotel, I checked my email and ended up changing my medicine delivery with UPS to Monday instead of Friday (tomorrow); I also contacted Max from soc-motss to let her know we'd arrived.

When we reached Powell Street Station, we found the same exit we'd used last year and made our way to the hotel. After dealing with some technical difficulties, the desk clerk got us keys to our room on the top (8th) floor. We unpacked quickly, and I set up my CPAP to forgo the humidifier for a quick nap. I arranged with Max to meet for dinner at Max's Opera Cafe on Van Ness at 6:30, and Gary plotted a course from the restaurant to a Safeway opposite the Caltrain station. That settled, I slept for nearly two hours while Gary watched the baseball playoffs. At five I got up, showered, and dressed for dinner, and we left at 6 just after the Cleveland Guardians won over the Yankees 6-5 with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the tenth.

We caught a 5R bus by the cable car turnaround and arrived just in time to find Max seated opposite the front door. We had an excellent meal, including latkes and fried calamari appetizers followed by sandwiches for us (I had a Reuben and Gary had a toasted pastrami sandwich) and a salad for Max. We had a pleasant and wide-ranging conversation over the meal, which concluded with the coining of the phrase "the bathroom people" to name the anti-trans mob.

After pictures and hugs, we left the deli and caught the 31 bus to the Safeway for distilled water and supplies. On our way in, we saw a lady and a gentleman, each walking with a cane, making their way to exit, so we stood aside. Both appreciated the gesture very much, with the gentleman greeting us with "Mahalo". The cashier was nice enough to double-bag the heavy bottles for the trip to the hotel. We caught the N train at the end of the line to return to the hotel. Gary had the new Matlock series on the TV and the Kraken game on his phone (they beat Philly at home, 6-4).

After the game and the show were over, I looked up Mr. S Leather and found it to be right around the corner from the Lone Star Saloon, a short bus trip from the hotel. That settled, I worked on my journal and prepared for bed, falling asleep by 11:30.

TUESDAY
Sat with Tammy and met Abe and Surya at breakfast. Michelle Jordan presented statistics on the work we've done over the past year. John Stankey gave a rousing keynote address.

After the general session I helped out with the LEAGUE booth briefly, greeted Cameron and Stacey, and maybe sold some shoes (the store is online).

Then I made the trek to the Coronado Ballroom for "Embracing Cultural Allyship". I ended up sitting behind Dawn Cordero. During the session I was reminded Taco Bell is not a nickname for AT&T Mexico. I told Dawn so, but it fell flat.

Lunch session with Rachel Simon, VP Privacy, spoke of how to make strong connections at work. Jennifer Rylander and Gloria Lewis spoke on intentional listening. (They're the cartoon characters in the compliance training videos.) Bill Ryan and Jeff McElfresh followed up.

After lunch I took my personal phone back to the room to recharge, then hurried to the AI session. I wasn't feeling well so I made sure to grab a Coke and a cookie. Then we had another general session and I returned to the room to retrieve the phone. I hung out at the LEAGUE booth and helped knock down the display before being seated at our reserved table early. I thought we were all going to be able to sit down early but they only let me in to reserve the spot.

At dinner the first speaker was Chris Bashinelli who produced and hosted a show called Bridge the Gap, in which he interacted with local people all over the world (as well as appearing on one episode of The Sopranos). He emphasized "home" in his talk, including growing up "on a stoop" in Brooklyn. (Yes, he's a Mets fan.) After the speech and Q&A, it was time for the awards. Dawn Cordero won the first one. The next to last award presenter was faced with major technical difficulties; the script on the prompter screen was missing a huge chunk of the two awards. They had to pull up the script on a phone for the presenter to read.

After the awards I hung out at the reception in the bar behind the tower lobby, where I got to hang out with John Spalding and Johnny, greeted Jackson Ku and a colleague, congratulated Dawn on her award (and discovered she wasn't offended by my Taco Bell joke as I'd feared), and met a fellow named Ron from the Chief Data Office and talked shop briefly before returning to the room just before nine. On the elevator were two young dudes looking for karaoke in a room on the seventh floor (where my room was), but the room number had four digits which meant they'd have to return to the lobby level and walk all the way to the other end of the hotel to use the tower elevators.

The first thing I saw when I reached the room and turned on the TV was a hot dude getting drowned in the bathtub on the cold open for "High Potential" (an ABC series). OK, I didn't need to see that, so I turned to Fox 4 news. It was announced that Cynt Marshall is retiring at the end of the year. She'll be a consultant for the Mavs through 2025. I basically zoned out surfing the net for the next two hours before preparing for bed around eleven.

TUESDAY

Woke up about 6:30 to pee and returned to bed. Gary's alarm went off at 7:15 and he turned on the lights and started surfing the net, so I turned off my alarm and rolled over for about ten minutes more, then emptied the CPAP, did my morning routine, and packed up my toiletries and medications. Gary ducked in to use the bathroom and I prepared to use the pool after breakfast, donning gym shorts over my pink square-cut swimsuit, my Quake Rugby T-shirt, and sneaks. Gary dressed for the plane.

We had a quick breakfast, then Gary returned to the room and I headed for the pool, arriving about nine. I sat in the hot tub and was only there a few minutes when a hot daddy cub arrived with his wife and two little girls. He was not the same dude as Sunday; think Monster Cub with darker and thicker body fur and a chin beard. The family took selfies with the pool in back, then played briefly in the pool and sat in the hot tub. I got up and swam for a bit, then returned to the tub as they were leaving. After that I lounged on the pool deck and journaled, took one last dip and returned to the room about ten. On my way up I crossed paths with daddy cub and his family as they left the elevator and I entered. I changed clothes and finished packing, and we were checked out by 10:30.

We arrived at Cincinnati Premium Outlets Mall before 11. We walked three quarters of the way around the mall, stopping by Lids to shop and picking up some Ohio State refrigerator magnets, then bought coffee and pastry in the food court and surfed the net there for most of an hour. While we were there, I let Colleen and Sheila know where we were, and Colleen suggested we meet at her place when we were done with our respective errands. She was going to lunch with friends at noon, but mentioned the door was open so we should come in if we arrived early.

We walked the rest of the way around and left the mall about 12:30, arriving just after one, and waited for Colleen in her living room. Gary was nodding off, so I suggested he put the footrest up on his side of the couch and did the same thing on mine. Colleen arrived just after two and Sheila shortly after that. We chatted until about twenty after three, then Sheila went home and we drove the rental car back to the airport. On the way we were followed by a Jeep painted olive drab and flying two huge American flags off the back. I told Gary I didn't quite trust that vehicle, but fortunately we parted company at the I-275 interchange.

We arrived at the rental car return just after four, and had little trouble getting bags dropped off (other than the momentary confusion when I noticed the Alaska counter had moved to the west side of the terminal to make room for British Airways) and were through security and recombobulated in record time. It helped that we did not have to unpack anything, just empty pockets and remove shoes and belts (in my case, suspenders). We caught the train to concourse A and sat by the gate, recharging phones, until it was time to board.

We took off to the north on runway 36R, the easternmost runway which lines up over west Price Hill rather than Delhi. We were soon flying above the clouds, so Gary closed the window shade as suggested. He read and I listened to Joe Jackson throughout the flight. Our pilots were a white-haired dude of average height and a tall black dude who reminded me of Peter Graves' and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's characters in "Airplane!" A nice-looking younger dude with a fade haircut and stubbly beard was seated in front of Gary. About an hour before the flight was to land, I nodded off briefly, then switched over to some selections from "Naked Man" before stowing the headset and power cable. We landed from the north on the westernmost runway (16R) and parked at gate D2, very close to baggage claim.

Our first stop was the newly converted all-gender restroom conveniently located next to the gate. Gary noticed people were confused by the concept. Once we retrieved our checked bags, we walked to the train station and boarded the rear car when the train came around 8:30. We left the train at Northgate Station only to find the south elevators (platform to mezzanine and mezzanine to street) and escalator from the platform level out of service, leaving only one set of stairs connecting the platform to the south mezzanine and stairs and an escalator from there to the bus bays - a clearly unacceptable state of affairs. Gary saw the proverbial smoke pouring out of my ears and took charge of our roller bags, handing me his carryon. Further complicating matters, when we boarded the bus, my ORCA card flew out of my hand as I was trying to juggle too many things at once. Fortunately, Gary managed to catch it before the bus got moving and I was able to stop the incipient meltdown before it got out of hand, with a deep breath and a declaration that I was done ranting.

We arrived at South Everett freeway station and a couple of teenagers wanted to know when the next bus from downtown Everett was to arrive. I was in the middle of calling for a Lyft, but once we had a driver on the way, I looked up the southbound 512 and found one was due about the same time as our Lyft. By the time we had loaded up the car with our luggage, the bus arrived and apparently the person they were waiting for exited the bus. The Lyft driver's GPS was not so great; it inserted a right turn at the foot of the northbound exit ramp to route 527 and then skipped the right turn toward Broadway. However, the actual map was clear even though the directions were messed up. We got home just after 10:30. I texted Colleen and Sheila to let them know we'd arrived.

SUNDAY

Woke up just before seven to pee, then returned to bed for the half hour before our alarms went off. Since Gary had been up later, I took the first shift in the bathroom and was done by 8:15. We were dressed and ready for breakfast about nine. On the elevator down, a fellow with his wife read my Quake Rugby T-shirt and asked if I were a rugby player. I responded "No, just a fan," at which he opined that rugby is a violent game. At breakfast we spotted at least two hot bears with families.

We went upstairs briefly so I could don my pink square-cut swimsuit, then proceeded to the pool about 9:30. The pool was an indoor/outdoor pool with a partition to swim under. Gary settled into a deck chair outside to read his book as he's not a swimmer. The two bears we spotted at breakfast were there as well. One was tall and a bit leaner, although generally bigger, had a long, thick black beard and body fur to match, and reminded me of DJ Matt Stands writ large. He was accompanied by a wife and two little girls, one sporting inflated pink waterwings. The other had more of a fireplug build, a bald head and trimmer beard, and reminded me of Matthew overall and Gareth only in facial features. He had two small boys with him who were quite active; I saw him casually toss one of them into the water with little effort to everyone's delight. There was yet another little boy swimming after the other families had gone, but when I swam inside under the partition I noticed his mom (or, less likely, grandma) keeping a watchful eye. I got out of the water about 10:30, caught up on journaling while air-drying, and we returned to the room about eleven.

At noon we left for the reunion, stopping by Kroger on the way to the venue. We spent most of the event sitting at the bar chatting and snacking, with the main meal served buffet style just after two. At one point, one of the grandchildren told Len he looked like a pirate, to which he responded with a loud "Arrrr!" Just before five when the pool closed, I got up to return my unused swimming gear to the car, and when I returned, we moved from the bar to the main room. I overheard "Teenagers" ("scare the living shit out of me") by My Chemical Romance and observed it was a perfect anthem for the events of Friday night at Kroger on Kemper. Most of the families left between five and 5:30, with only our generation plus Andy's, Kate's, and Matt's families remaining at six. When all who remained were us three couples and Matt's family, we gathered around the remaining folding table and chatted until 7:30 or so, during which we arranged to meet for breakfast at ten AM at a restaurant on Hamilton Avenue. Tristan took pictures first of the three siblings by ourselves and then with spouses before we cleaned up and left around eight.

Gary decided he'd like White Castle for dinner, so he plotted a course and we went the "back way" down Cincinnati-Dayton Road. We split a meal of two chicken sliders and one of four regular sliders, each with fries and a drink. After dinner we arrived back at the hotel about half past nine and turned on the Mets at Mariners game from back in Seattle (the Mariners won, 12-1) and I caught up on journaling and chatted with Zach on Messenger. I prepared for bed around eleven and was ready to drop off to sleep by 11:30.

FRIDAY

I woke up about 4:15 to use the bathroom and slept fitfully until my alarm went off at five. We quickly dressed and repacked, and I called for a Lyft about 5:30. It took a while for the service to find us a car and for the driver to finish his previous ride. We arrived at Everett Station at five after six and caught the 510 ten minutes later, exiting at Westlake Center and crossing the street as the mall hadn't opened yet. We shared the two elevator rides with another couple who had boarded the bus with us in Everett. As they headed for the rear of the train, we headed forward, and were underway by seven.

We arrived at Sea-Tac and were directed to the bridge level for bag drop, which was new. From there we headed upstairs to the security checkpoint level, used the bathroom, and proceeded to checkpoint 2 at the other end of the terminal. A nice-looking black dude behind us in the security line wore a T-shirt with a silhouette of a fish emblazoned with "Have a crappie weekend!" We ended up going through the magnetometer and got our belongings back fairly quickly. I lost sight of Gary as I was getting recombobulated and texted him. As it happened, he was waiting behind a column for me to finish. We made a beeline for the gate to explain our seat situation, and the agent moved us to an aisle and window in the tail of the aircraft, blocking the middle seat between us. That settled, we had steak and scrambled egg sandwiches at Le Grand Comptoir, a wine bar in the concourse, and Gary finally got my text and we had some fun with it. We returned to the gate area in plenty of time to board. As it happened, our seat belts were just long enough not to need extenders.

We were airborne and reached cruising altitude by 10:30. Gary napped as soon as we left the gate. I was sleepy but couldn't actually fall asleep with all the activity in the aisle. Soon enough, the service carts passed by and delivered our pre-ordered fruit and cheese trays, along with pretzels, Biscoff cookies, and ginger ale. During lunch, I watched an episode of The Big Brunch, produced and hosted by Dan Levy from Schitt's Creek. Afterwards, I noted our position over central South Dakota, switched to my music player and cued up Naked Man, then kicked back and tried once again to sleep, but was thwarted by the restroom queue extending past my seat until the fasten seat belt light came on early, about 40 minutes before our scheduled arrival. The need for this soon became clear as the aircraft bounced and rattled its way from the outskirts of Chicago to Cincinnati.

Once we landed, we stopped by the restroom, where I saw the cute cub father of two who sat in front of us on the plane and noticed he looked a lot like Zach. We made our way to baggage claim and soon had bags in hand. From there we navigated around several family groups to the Hertz counter. Since I'd made the reservation online, it went pretty smoothly and we were in a car within a few minutes. Gary noticed before I did that our car was issued Michigan license plates. A lady overheard him telling me about it and asked if we were from Michigan. I replied, possibly a little more forcefully than necessary, "NO." At the exit, we had to wait for a driver who took the wrong vehicle to return it whence it came so they could take the correct one. Once the errant vehicle was out of the way, we checked out quickly and were on the road to the hotel. I noticed the car had not been refueled, so we stopped at Speedway on Buttermilk Pike; the car has an impressive range of nearly 600 miles on a tank of gas.

We got checked in to the hotel about ten minutes to seven. We stretched out on the beds (appropriately enough, two queens) and I chatted with Sheila briefly before suggesting Ruby Tuesday for dinner. Gary liked that idea very much. We drove the ridiculously short distance because we wanted to use the car afterwards for grocery shopping. There were many bears dining there tonight.🐻 We had the endless garden bar and strawberry lemonade. Our waitress served us two drinks each and a third in a to-go cup.

After dinner I hopped on the freeway to Kroger on Kemper. An omen of what was to come: a group of five or six people sauntered in front of the car well forward of the stop sign where they were supposed to cross. I managed to park the car in a spot where a cart corral had been knocked askew and partially blocked the space. On our way into the store we saw several police cars and mobs of mostly teenagers streaming from the exit. We managed to find what we needed and check out, only to find the exit locked (with a cute cubby black dude holding the door closed) since more teenagers were swarming outside, waiting for us to exit so they could sneak in. An older clerk suggested the cops "pepper spray them all" if that happened. Eventually the huge ginger bear officer indicated the coast was clear, and the cubby clerk unlocked the door and let us out. Gary later marveled at the fact no one bothered us in the store, and we chalked it up to us being either too big or too old (or both) to fuck with. The cops were trying to herd the crowd and their vehicles away from Winton Road and out the Kemper Road exit, so we did the opposite, exiting onto Winton and making the left onto Kemper since we couldn't return to the freeway that way.

I made the right turn onto Route 4 and the left onto Sharon Road as I'd done taking Dad to church. About halfway between downtown Glendale and the hotel, an SUV parked halfway into the traffic lane to wait for some people across the street, forcing me to stop while they figured out what to do. This pissed off a driver following me so closely I could not see their headlights in my rear-view mirror. As I passed Princeton High School, a lane opened up and the tailgater couldn't wait for me to move right as I was intending to do anyway, swooping into the lane to my right and matching my speed. I slowed to a stop and let the asshole go around, then made my lane change and stayed some distance back to make clear I was not going to engage.

We returned to the room with our purchases, and I stripped down, put on my gym shorts, slurped down the strawberry lemonade and consumed the ice with a bottle of Snapple tea. I finished my journaling around eleven and prepared for bed, turning in just before midnight.

MONDAY

Woke up about six to use the bathroom. Gary texted me about quarter to seven to hurry up. I went back to sleep until Gary was done with his shower. We finished packing about 8:30 and chilled in the room till after 9:30, waiting for the rain to pass, then checked out of the hotel, stashed our luggage, and boarded the Free Ride bus driven by a student driver.

By ten we were seated at the Hen House for breakfast. On the way to our booth we passed Brian and Lori having breakfast with April, and spotted Steve Milloy at a nearby table before we sat down. Gary had yogurt and fruit, and I got the carnitas hash with eggs over easy and apple pico de gallo. The wait staff mostly wore T-shirts with the word "Hangry" on the front with the definition on the back.

After breakfast we purchased day passes for the bus and light rail, which are delivered on paper and apparently cannot be loaded on the Go Card like the weekly and monthly passes. We walked to the light rail station and I was expecting to head east or south on the train. Gary had planned to catch a bus on the other side of the station either to the Sculpture Garden or the Mill City Museum. We decided on the latter, and caught a bus to the newly refurbished 3rd Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River. We walked along the river bank and got some pictures of the river and bridges, then headed a block south to the museum. Unfortunately, the museum was closed until Thursday and the adjacent Guthrie Theater was dark today. After trying and failing to find a downstream bridge to watch the river from, Gary plotted a course for the Sculpture Garden, but it began to rain moderately heavily and Gary got rather frustrated. He plotted a course for the Convention Center thinking that would be the most convenient place to access the Skyway. We took the 3 bus to the Federal office building and saw a couple ladies, one in a GALA Festival T-shirt and the other carrying a Festival water bottle just like mine with her luggage. We all caught the free 10 bus down Nicollet Mall; they left at the light rail station and presumably headed for the airport.

We left at the Hyatt, since Gary was ready to retrieve our bags and call for a Lyft early since our choices for things to do before our flight had diminished to nothing because of the weather and Monday closures. It occurred to me that we were both more thirsty than hungry, and what better place to pass the time than the bar at an Irish pub? So we caught the 11 bus two stops north to the Local, where we'd had dinner on Saturday when we arrived. We split an order of Chicken Shots, which are popcorn chicken bites tossed in a whiskey honey glaze. Gary had a Diet Pepsi and I had a couple pints of Strongbow. When we finished eating, Gary suggested we go, and the bartender (who was from Miami and had an interesting hairdo with a magenta stripe) overheard and asked if we'd like another round. I suggested to Gary we had plenty of time for that, and he agreed. The bartender was chatting with some other patrons and colleagues about how busy the place got over the weekend between Festival, the WNBA game with Caitlin Clark, and several televised events.

After we'd finished that round of drinks about two, I settled the bill and we proceeded into the bright sunshine, down 10th Street to Hennepin Avenue, to catch the bus to the Sculpture Garden after all. On the way I took a call from my oncologist's office to arrange for follow-up lab tests, and when we reached our bus stop, I called my dentist to make an urgent (but not emergency) appointment to see about the toothache. The bus arrived shortly afterward, and when we arrived we walked over a ramped boardwalk and down a long flight of stairs to reach the Sculpture Garden. We wandered around the exhibits and returned to the bus stop about 3:30. We ended up catching the 6 bus instead of the 4, which ended up taking the wrong fork in the road from what I was expecting. Had I stuck with it, though, it should have dropped us off at the same place due to a detour off Hennepin Avenue, but not knowing the reroute, I ended up getting off the bus as soon as it turned onto 24th Street because I knew the connection was nearby. We walked 4 to 6 blocks east on 24th to reach our planned transfer point which we'd used on the previous attempt. That settled, we arrived at the hotel around four without further incident. We retrieved our bags and sat briefly in the lobby so Gary could put his phone on the battery pack to charge, and then I called for a Lyft. I requested a larger vehicle because of the number of bags. The ride to the airport was smooth and uneventful despite the traffic.

We arrived at the airport around quarter to five, checked our bags, took advantage of the premium security queue and were through security around five. We weren't far from the gate. I greeted a few other chorines, chatted with Craig, and bought us sodas. Everyone else was there for the previous flight, which started boarding a few minutes after we arrived. A couple raced to the gate and just barely made it onto the plane before the door closed. Once the gate area cleared out, we moved to sit closer to the gate, greeting Rick from the first tenors on the way. Cassidy, Leonard, and Cleveland joined us shortly afterward, followed by Paul. Both Cassidy and Rick preboarded since they needed crutches.

After we had boarded, I noticed Mike and Dave were seated two rows ahead of us across the aisle; the rest of our fellow chorines were in the main cabin. Pretty much as soon as we were airborne (about 8:30), the otherwise adorable baby seated in front of us started crying and continued with few interruptions much of the flight, although the pauses were longer after the first hour. I was pleased to find I was able to eat the small cup of almonds, cashews, and pretzels served with our ginger ale without aggravating my tooth. We were served our light dinner about 9:30 and done by ten. I managed to fall asleep for about the last hour of the flight.

When we landed, we had to wait on the apron for the departing plane to clear our gate. We used the bathroom, then headed for baggage claim, which was an absolute shitshow. Because of construction scaffolding, there was no room to maneuver around the crowd from multiple flights all arriving at the same time. Gary found me a seat and directed me to watch our carryon baggage. Eventually he found our bags piled up between two carousels to free up space for other flights. As he delivered the last bag to my location, he said, "Light rail. NOW." This wasn't like him and I could tell he was, frankly, pissed off. Complicating matters further, the light rail station was crawling with dudes in hard hats, the up escalator was out of service, and it looked like trains were operating on only one track to and from Angle Lake. But eventually we caught the northbound train destined for Lynnwood (although passengers were ushered from the train at Northgate as usual until the new section of track opens at the end of August). The last car of the train was nearly empty. We got another comfortable Lyft home from Northgate Station and got unpacked enough to get to sleep about one AM.

SATURDAY

Woke up at seven, took meds, peed, and reset my alarm to 7:45. Gary rolled over on his 7:30 alarm, so I rose for the day on mine and woke Gary when I was done in the bathroom. We left for Orchestra Hall about ten after eight, chatting briefly with a fellow from Dayton and another from Cincinnati in the elevator. Having noticed the moderately heavy rain from our room, we took the Skyway to Orchestra Hall for the first time, which involved walking all the way to the Convention Center and backtracking past the Hilton.

Our first concert of the day was a Coffee Concert, and the irony of coffee being prohibited in the hall at a Coffee Concert was not lost on the ushers. Jim Carroll (the smaller of The Jims, who now live in Portland) came to sit with us. The concert by GMCW (DC) was called Portraits. It featured nine paintings, each with a commissioned choral movement and a ballet matched with the visual work. We were suitably impressed.

After the concert we picked up coffee and breakfast from Dunn Brothers in the MCC lobby. Finding the outdoor seating wet from the morning's rain, we made our way to the Ikea Lounge at the opposite end of the hall by the church. Along the way we chatted briefly with the Davids and Paul from RGMC. As the time approached for the noon concert block, we got in line to enter the auditorium. I pointed out the revolving rooms at the back and Gary got some pictures.

The first group was Austin GMC with a chamber orchestra, who had an ambitious program opening with a Texas medley including Selena's "Como la Flor" and closing with "Never Ever" from Naked Man, with not a moment to spare. [] I had to leave midway through Palm Springs GMC's set to dress for our performance and return for our 2:45 call. I arrived early, waited in the Ikea Lounge, and texted Gary to take my phone for pictures during our set. For most of the two hours remaining till our warm-up room opened, I sat in the lounge and chatted with other chorines. Also said hi to Oblio after he'd had his tarot cards read. As our warm-up time approached, we lined up to file into the room and then had to scramble to get a group picture.

The performance felt good on stage, other than the absence of monitor speakers which left us guessing at balancing between voice parts, but I think we managed well enough without them. After the performance I had a nice chat with Dr. Derek from San Francisco before finding Gary and retrieving my phone. We chatted briefly with Dan and Keith, and said hi to Steve Milloy who was chatting with Steve Wolf. We then made our way back to the hotel to change clothes and make dinner reservations. En route, we chatted with Ken and Jen and noticed how much their two daughters had grown up since we'd seen them last. Austin dude spills the tea in the Skyway. 45 injury in shooting. Bear Soup chat: Manchurian Candidate? Buca di Beppo. Gigi, our French waitress in an Italian restaurant. 4 course meal: Caprese salad, garlic bread with marinara, spinach canneloni with chicken, and tiramisu (🎶 like the deserts miss the rain... 🎶) and cheesecake for dessert. The desserts are also family-sized, so we had plenty to take home after a small slice of each. Dropped off dessert and it fit in the fridge.

Off to Banned blockbuster at MCC auditorium. Sat in the middle revolving room about halfway up. Impressive cast of characters. Nina West and Dick von Dyke co-MCs. Take Note! sang "Fuck You" again to thunderous applause. Trans Festival Chorus (with Mitch) was amazing, as were the Queer Gospel Choir (with Dan) and Columbus GMC (with Brian, led by Brayton). The concert let out right at 11, so we decided to walk at street level in case they decided to close the Skyway on schedule.

We rode the elevator up with three other GALA Festival attendees and two competitors in the ballroom dancing event at the hotel. One of us noted the sharp outfit one of the dancers was wearing and imagined his entire chorus dressed in that outfit. We took some time to wind down from the day and got to bed around quarter to one.