Jerry Timms

An assortment of photos from last weekend. I didn’t take all of these - some/most were taken by Rich. I’ve gotten into a bad habit of not taking very many pictures, thinking that others will take so many that it won’t matter. While partially true, it means that I have to steal pictures from my friends if I want something to post on my blog! So here you go. You’ll notice that there aren’t any pictures from the late night Arena and Fete Accompli parties, and that’s because the dim lighting and sweat-inducing 90+ degree temperatures at these parties make for very scary looking pictures!

Relaxing at Tony’s house on Friday

Philip, Justin, Rich and me on the Friday night Harbor Cruise

Talking to Mike at the parade. Bernard looks bored!

See? Get him a drink and he’s all better!

Philip, me, Sarah and Justin at the parade

Justin, Rich and me at the Zoo Party on Sunday

I’ve returned from San Diego Pride with my friends, and although I’m a bit exhausted today I thought I’d take some time to reflect on the weekend.

I challenged myself last weekend to start talking a little more to people I don’t know. Circuit parties are highly social events, and so I have found them to sometimes be a little intimidating. Ok, maybe really intimidating. I don’t know why I’m shy, but I just am. Now this wasn’t a new challenge, I’ve been gradually building up to this point during the course of the year, but I really gave myself an ultimatum this time that I really want to get myself over the worst part of this shyness and put that all behind me.

Luckily, it wasn’t really a challenge. I found it quite easy (both sober and not) to say hi to people, introduce myself, and make some casual conversation. Actually I’m really amazed at the number of people I met because I don’t think I’ve met that many new people in one weekend before, even at some of the larger circuit events. The primary goal of the weekend is of course to hang out with my best friends, but it was also nice to expand the social circle a bit. For once I actually remember the people from the weekend better than the music! And I think I’ve returned to Phoenix with a greater feeling of self-confidence than I’ve ever had before.

Speaking of trying new things, Jerry met me in San Diego for the closing party of the weekend, and it was a lot of fun having him there. While having drinks one night with Jerry last week, I made an offer to buy his ticket if he would come out to one of the parties with us. It turned out he had the required days off, his girlfriend was going to be out of town so he didn’t have any plans, and so he accepted. The next day I was a little afraid that he might have accepted just because we were out at the bar (aka drunk talk), but I immediately bought his ticket anyway and sent him the details of the party. It turned out he was serious about coming, and so we made plans for Sunday.

Despite initially being a little out of his element for obvious reasons, I think Jerry had a great time. He danced like a circuit boy and socialized with some of my newer friends throughout the course of the evening, hopefully getting a good taste for what these events are all about - challenging yourself, letting your guard down and meeting new people, and enjoying some great music and entertainment. It really meant a lot to me that he was willing to try out an event like this, knowing how much I enjoy them. And so whether or not he decides to do it again, at least he may understand a little bit more about what I’ve been up to, and I can tell him stories of future travels without him thinking I’m completely crazy!

So, thanks to Tony and DJ for their top notch hospitality, and thanks to new friends and best friends for spending a great weekend with me in San Diego. I couldn’t imagine life right now without you.

There’s really no other way to put this: I’m ready for a party! More specifically, I’m thinking about San Diego Pride coming up next weekend, and the closing party with Rosabel. They did the closing party at the White Party in Palm Springs, and it was just absolutely amazing. I could swear that crack was coming out of those speakers.

This weekend, however, my parents are coming to town for a weekend visit and trip to the Grand Canyon. I’m really looking forward to it because I haven’t been able to spend very much time with them lately. Even during the holidays it seemed that everything was really focused around my sister and new nephew - which is expected and justified, it just feels like it’s been a really long time since any member of my family has really asked me how I’m doing or what I’ve been up to. So maybe this weekend I’ll get a chance to share some of that with them.

Actually very few people ever ask me those type of questions, and I guess that’s the whole reason for me starting this blog. If nobody is going to ask, then I will tell them - and the rest of the world, too! It’s quite satisfying, actually - for someone who has a lot to say to have this type of forum for saying it.

Which brings me to a discussion I had with Rich and Justin tonight about the unchartered social waters of blog association and disclosure. Rich has decided to include a little more description in his blog about his personal life, and not everyone is as comfortable with those details as he is - or being associated so closely with stories that they would not choose to be a part of. In the end he will decide what to do about this, and I will be interested to see how the whole thing plays out. Unchartered waters…I mean how many people used to publish their diaries and distribute the copies to thousands of people every week? This is all new.