1:30 pm - Monday 2nd January 2006

Time again forever.

I'm back on a plane, flying away from San Francisco, and all the things so dear to me there. Beginnings and endings open up around me like a big open thing... (that was humour people, so laugh). New Years Eve was nice enough. Bonnie had been in the city with her parents during the day, and I had been back at Ben and Juliet's apartment doing laundry, checking email and drinking coffee. I hit the second hand stores for some clothes to wear out on the town that night, and found a loose collared shirt and a nice singlet to wear underneath it.

Around 4 pm, I left Berkeley and caught the train into the city. I met Bonnie around 5 pm; she was a little grumpy because the day with her parents, but at least she had the opportunity to talk with them about her sexuality, albeit in the most indirect way. I had pizza and she had burritos for dinner, and it was only 6 pm. We killed a lot of time at a shopping centre off Market Street, and then about 8 pm we caught the train down to the Mission District. We decided not to go to the Lexington, instead we headed directly to the “12 Galaxies” where it was “New Years Eve with Fairy Butch”. The entry was a bit steep (~$25), but it was fun. First was the speed dating, something I've never done before. I went to the opposite end of the line from Bonnie to give her some space, and chatted to quite a few women. It was different, I don't know how serious people were taking it, but Bonnie at least was quite popular, with one girl (Erin) being quite interested.

That took us through until about 10:30 pm or so, and afterwards the club started to fill up and the show began. Bonnie and I secured a place on the upstairs balcony, which was crowded, but perfect for people watching. Fairy Butch was the MC, and although the activities included people getting on stage for sexual New Years resolutions, the main attractions were the strippers. Despite my worldly experience, I do not think I've ever seen so many cheering, enthusiastic lesbians together in one place. The first girl was super hot, and I discovered that I have a distinct weakness for girls in hats. When she got the whipped cream out, she had me at hello…

There was a second stripper who was also good (although I preferred the first) and the dollar bills were flying thick and fast. There was a break for about 30 minutes until about 11:30 pm, and I missed two calls from Kadie who had just celebrated midnight in Bozeman. There were another two strippers and then Fairy Butch did the midnight countdown. Bonnie and I would have been a bit more enthusiastic had we had our significant others, but we exchanged platonic kisses on the cheek at midnight. We people watched and enjoying the scene (including the girls who had temporarily shed their shirts) on the floor below. There were hot women making out all over the bar, which was hot and bothersome, but in the best possible way. We left about 12:30 pm, and headed home, with some delays on BART, so that we finally arrived home about 2 am.

We had called Judy earlier in the evening; she was going to go to a showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show with some friends. She's received our present (in case you don't remember, it was a strap-on) and was hassling us about it in the nicest possible way.

On the way home, Bonne and I talked about communication between women, and lesbians in particular. There is the joke that if it was up to lesbians to make the first move, then humans would go extinct real fast. I think having the confidence to make the first move (and perhaps be shot down), is a more stereotypical guy characteristic, which is complicated in lesbian interactions. Gay guys of course seem to have no such problem. Yesterday, Bonnie went to go and have lunch with her parents. Ignoring the early morning wake up I had, I slept in until about 11 pm and then went down to Berkeley Espresso to drink coffee and surf the Internet. I met Bonnie about 3 pm at the Bart station in the driving rain. Bonnie thought it might be cute to wear a suit to meet Lauren (her new friend, but not yet girlfriend) at the airport. Lauren is in Costa Rica at the moment, but she will be back to Berkeley in about two weeks.

So we went to look at hats, but the hat shop was closed for New Years Day, and so were many of the second hand stores. Mars Clothing on Telegraph Avenue was open, and so I gleefully got to work getting Bonnie dressed up. I thought she looked terribly cute, and so did a few other people in the store. In the end she decided to just look for a hat and tie later on, and so we wandered back down to Shattuck Avenue in search of food. We were quite wet due to the rain, and so we found shelter in a diner and ate. We talked, and then we made out way back up to Ben and Juliet's place. Bonnie stopped in at her own apartment to change and have a shower, and I did the same back at my apartment. That evening we chilled out, drank beer, dyed my hair and watched Blackadder. She went home about 10 pm, and I cleaned and tidied the apartment.

This morning I woke up at 7 am to give me enough time to wash the sheets and towels, and to finish packing and cleaning. I called Bonnie just before 10 am, and we walked down to Berkeley Espresso. We talked about how it was good to part on amicable terms, and discussed what 2006 and the future in general might hold for us. I'm not certain what I want for my future, I suppose the most certain thing is that I want to keep my options open. I will probably go to Arizona in the end; certainly no one else is throwing so much money at me, but if I want to work in industry, then it will be smart to keep my contact list and my skill set fresh.

5:10 pm – Salt Lake City

I have the lay over from hell, almost four hours. I tried to get bumped up onto an earlier flight, but it has been delayed by almost two hours. Happily I've found a table and chair far away from the hordes of people, where I can kick off my shoes and write.

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