March 3-14, 2006 :: Back to Cincinnati

Return to the Nasti...
I rolled up into the Nasti after a 6.25 hour car ride from Atlanta on the afternoon of March 3.  Once again work had brought me back for a "work out" in Evil...I mean Evendale for the coming Mon - Wed.  What better time, then, to come up a few days early and visit with the infamous Clifton and all his friends up north!  It had been 5 months since my last trip up there and we didn't get a chance that time to even go out to the bars/clubs actually in Cincinnati, so I was looking forward to seeing more what a regular Clifton weekend was like. 

A Night on the Town in the CVG...
After hanging around and relaxing for a little while, we started to get ready to meet Clifton's friend Greg to go get something to eat and possibly meet up with a bunch of work friends at a bar called "Mulligans".  "Mulligans" was a mad house!  We couldn't find a place to park the car let alone were we about to wait in the line that was going out the door to get into the place.  We called some of the work guys who were inside and they said it was packed inside as well.  I was slightly impressed considering the last time I was there it was for the OSU vs. PSU football game and the place is fairly large inside, and has a fairly large outside section as well!  That must have been one happy hour! 

Greg, Clifton, and I went some place else that Greg recommended to eat before heading into Cincinnati to pick up another couple guys and head out.  First stop was a mixed bar called Milton's.  It was a very down home kind of place, not fancily decorated, with a light crowd of folks there.  We mostly hung out, talked, played the touch screen video Photo Hunt game, and had a few to start the night.  After Milton's we headed further downtown to Hamburger Mary's which is a quintessential stop on the gay circuit on Fri nights apparently.  This place was much more in line with what I was accustomed to for a Fri night out on the town as well: hot guys, great music, a dance floor (sort of :), a trendier location...what more could you ask for?  As luck would have it, there was a Volley Ball tournament in town as well, so many of the players were out that night.  We even managed to get one's attention and bring him over to the end of the bar we were at to talk to Clifton.  They seemed to get along nice, but this kid wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, so we said "ta ta" and bizounced!

Mmmmm...MUNCHY TIME!
After leaving Hamburger Mary's, fatigue and the munchies set in faster than we could get to the next bar so our little party train was derailed and headed to the nearest Jimmy John's instead.  Now we don't have Jimmy John's in Atlanta, nor did we in Connecticut, nor did we in New York, so this was a new one to me.  Also, in the south after-drinking munchies consist of Steak 'n Shake french fries or Waffle House greasiness (with the occasional stop at the Varsity...an Atlanta tradition).  In NY it ALWAYS consisted of pizza.  When they told me Jimmy John's was a sub place, I didn't know what to do with myself.  Haha, kidding...it wasn't that dramatic!  We got our subs (which were heavenly by the way...major points for JJ's!) and headed back home.  Fri night was a success!

An awesome Saturday...
Saturday morning rolled around and so did the moment I had been waiting for since setting this trip up with Clifton...DIM SUM!  We picked up Clifton's little brother and the fabulous Diem and headed over to the Pacific Moon Café around 12:30p to meet up with a couple more FMPs and IMLPs from the area.  We even got to see Pritesh, a GE - Energy IMLP that moved up from Atlanta for the Feb - Aug rotation.  Pritesh was one of my buddies so I was glad to see him.  True to all experiences at Dim Sum, we had a smorgasbord of eccentric, and yummy!, foods before rolling ourselves out the door a couple hours later.  I was thoroughly satisfied!

It was a really nice day on Sat, so we decided to take Clifton's little brother out to Ault Park and go fly kites.  Neither Clifton, Diem, Jarod, nor I had flown a kite in a long time (if ever), so the idea was certainly mutually intriguing!  Mission 1 was to find a kite of course.  We went to a near by Target but they said they weren't in season yet.  Off we went to a little local toy store, I think it was Merlin's toys or something Camelot-ish.  Luckily they had a couple different kinds.  Despite our best intentions, the only ones we liked were rainbow colored, too, so I figured it was very appropriate :-)  We made it up to the park where we flew for an hour or so before heading down for an ice cream at United Dairy Farmers and then heading home.

Another Night of Debauchery Coming Up!
The plan for Sat night was to pre-game at Clifton's house with some of his buddies and then head over to the new dance club, Adonis.  It was a cool place with a large bar room in the front, dance room in the middle, and then another lounge with a performance room for drag shows in the back.  It's good to go to diverse clubs like that so everyone can do their thing and have a good time.  We had an awesome time dancing there before bringing the party back to Clifton's.  I turned in slightly after getting home but the boys drank for a while longer before passing out all over the living room.  Good times!

Off to the Hotel...
We didn't do a whole lot on Sun except recuperate and hang out.  We got some breakfast, watched some movies, and watched the Golden Globe Awards on TV.  Before it got too late, and because I had an ~30 min drive to the hotel I was staying in for the work out that week, I took off to check in and get ready for the week.  It had been an awesome weekend!  I was glad I came up early for it!

"So...can you stay until next week?"
The work out I was in that week was pretty intense.  We were working through a lot of security scenarios and dealing with the never-ending Export Control concerns our business has around the IT field.  On Tues morning before we got started, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for our business asked me if I could stay until the following week because the CISO for the General Electric Company was coming to town with some of her staff and wanted to interview me about some projects going on in our world.  I was kind of off guard but he had already talked to my boss and got it approved by him so I figured, what the hell!  This effectively doubled the amount of time I was going to be in Cincy...nothing like riding the wave!

Columbus! with Greg, Sam, Clifton and seeing Shelly...
On Fri, Clifton and I made arrangements to go to Columbus for the night.  We were joined by Greg and his friend Sam.  I called Shelly up who's in law school at OSU and made plans to have her join our entourage.  She was thrilled because it meant an escape from the evil, and boring, law people :-)  Boy did she get that!  We took her to the "other" side of town where the colors are brighter and the people are much more fabulous.  Haha!  We did the standard three bars: Union Station, Havana, and Axis.  Before retiring for the night we went out to TeeJay's which is like Waffle House...sort of.  There is a gay friendly TeeJay's outside of Columbus and then there's the place we went to.  Some guys noticed us and made a comment, "There ain't no Brokeback Mountain here," which scared us a bit, but we toughed it out, had our greasy food, and headed back to the hotel.  Take that bigots! :-)

Sleeping in the Car...Outlet Malls...Tanning Beds...
The trip back from Columbus was a quiet one...especially since Clifton and Sam fell asleep for most of it :-)  Greg had driven separate because he was staying longer that weekend to see his sister compete in a DECA conference going on that weekend also in Columbus.  We were just about to pass the outlet mall off of I-71 when they both woke up and urged me to pull over for a little while so we could go perusing through the shops.  I put up a little fight since I wasn't looking forward to shopping so much as getting back to Cincy, but actually was glad to stop for a bit since it was a rainy day and I was getting a bit sleepy myself.  After popping into some of the stores, we got a coffee and headed back on the road. 

We dropped Sam off at home and Clifton and I headed to a tanning salon.  I had never been, but Clifton highly recommended it, especially on days like that one.  We went in, paid our $10 or whatever it was, and got 10 minutes of good ole fashion UV pumped into our skin.  Laying down on that bed with the heat and wonderful light all around me, I was instantly transported back to the cruise from last Nov.  It made me really want to go on another one...which it seems like I'll be doing again this Nov after all!  We headed to the grocery store after getting our "sun" and picked up some lobsters and other dinner food at Kroger.  At long last we made it back to Clifton's place just in time to eat and head over to another IMLP's place for game night. 

I was beat from driving and the weather being so nasty!  Beat, but happy...it had been a pretty good Saturday.  Of course, it didn't help that I had a drink at Clifton's friend's place and started to pass out in the middle of the game.  I get tired when I drink and already being tired did not help at all.  It was impossible for me to keep my eyes open, even having chocolate didn't help!  Clifton brought me back to his place so I could go to sleep and he ended up going back and staying until 4a!  I would have never made it :-)

Casey and Mia time!
On Sun I went up to see Casey's new house in Middletown, OH.  I met up with her and her daughter Mia, who calls me Uncle Matt, and we went to get a coffee and go to the house.  Little Mia, who likes to lock things, had locked the door, however, before they left there earlier that day.  A defeated mommy did not have her keys for the house on her standard key ring yet, so we took a little ride back to the old house to pick up a set before returning again.  Mia was tuckered out, though, so when we got there she went and took a nap while Casey and I talked for hours about life and things going on with both of us.  It was wonderful!  I returned back to Clifton's that afternoon where we got some dinner, watched Harry Potter IV, and relaxed for the rest of the lazy Sunday.

Finally Time to Go...
Before I knew it the weekend was over, my meetings were over, and I was heading back down I-75 towards home.  I talked to Chris who offered to make me dinner when I got home which was awesome because I had no food in my apartment whatsoever!  I arrived at his place around 6:30p tired from driving and tired from being away for so long.  This was the first time I had gone to Cincinnati that I had such a great time (when I was there in Oct we were in Columbus most of the weekend and didn't really do much actually in Cincinnati), though, and I was kind of sad to leave.  I was sad to leave Clifton because he's an awesome friend and I was sad to leave Casey and Mia because they feel like family, and leaving family is always sad.  No worries though!  I'm sure there will be plenty more adventures in the 513!  And the Cincy gang are currently planning to come to Atlanta for PRIDE in June.  More adventures are around the corner!

M@