6/7/97 - Return to S.B.

6/8/97 - 1:18 AM - Melissa's place, Santa Barbara

Well, I'm baaaaack. It's such a relief to know for sure that I made the right choice. Leaving Santa Barbara was a difficult thing to do, but I'm so glad, now, that I did it.

I drove down Friday with plans to meet Melissa at the agency. Saw Lisa (looking good, seems a lot happier), met Janeen my replacement, and reunited with a few other agency folks. Mel and I left, went to her place to get high and drop off my stuff, then to Mike H.'s fabulous new place in Montecito. Mike and Mel as a couple is still a trip, and yet they seem happy. We went to dinner at Left At Albuquerque [there's a branch in San Francisco's Marina District, which I've never visited], and Mel and I started to bar hop. A brief margarita at Joe's, then Fathom.

If business-as-usual at the agency made me glad to be gone from there, b-a-u at Fathom made me glad to be gone from S.B.'s gay scene. In the first hour, I recognized almost no one. However, as the joint began to fill up, a lot of the same, tired faces began to appear ("not-so-beautiful people doing not so beautiful things"), and I was thanking my lucky stars that this shit was no longer my only alternative.

Just because I was now free to go, however, didn't mean I didn't wanna get laid. Melissa decided to go (Mike was going to pick her up and take her to his place), and I went and picked up a guy. (Or he picked me up. No matter.) David is/was 30-ish, shorter, red hair, a bit "unhip." Educated, no doubt, but somehow...not with it. However, he was complimenting me from here to next Tuesday, and offered to take me...not home [and certainly not to Paradise ;)], but to the Carrillo Hotel!

OK, in S.B., I've had sex on the hood of a car, on the roof of the Ortega Street parking structure, at the beach [numerous times], in the office of [a certain comic book store now closed], in the house behind Beth's old place, and probably several other bizarre places I can't call to mind at the moment, Never did I imagine I'd do it at a low income seniors hotel!

David works there, trying to transition all the residents out because the owners are about to tear the place down. [2000 update: place indeed torn down.] So David has a room to stay in...his ex-lover (or soon-to-be-ex, or whatever; the story wasn't too clear) and he own a place in Montecito, but we couldn't go there. Funny, I've never had sex in Montecito. [Gee, could this David have made up that part to impress me, Montecito being the wooded and wealthy area east of town? Gee, I wonder. Probably lived with his CURRENT boyfriend in some dump in downtown Goleta. Oops, that hit too close to home.]

9AM - same place.

Anyway, the sex was so-so. Neither of us had condoms or lube, so although I did try to fuck him dry for a few seconds [eek!], one couldn't say I was a "top" in any real way. We slept, I woke up at about 9AM, and left.

After a nice sequel sleep at Mel's 'til after noon, she and I got together, had lunch at Julian's (the line at Super-Rica was outrageous) and went to the gay pride festival. I had no idea it was even going on this weekend! They actually charged $7 admission for a festival which actually seemed smaller than last year's free event.

Mel and I stayed 'til 5. I saw Gary Grosse but avoided his company. I did say hello to Tom, Jody, Doug [Sean's ex] and Steve. I looked for Vince and Kyle, but there was no sign. The whole exercise just kept reminding me why I left.

That evening, Mel and I went to Mike's again, and I called Max. We met, went to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, where we ran into [Max's ex] George and a friend of his, Chris, from Fremont. Apparently, Max and Geo. hadn't seen each other for six months or so; Geo. was very jealous of Max's relationship with Nigel (who I didn't meet; he and Max had a big fight Friday, evidently) and they didn't speak for months.

Everything seemed OK with them, now, though, and we all decided to go out together. We headed for Chameleon first, on the theory that they wouldn't be charging a cover.They were, however ($10!), so we adjourned to Fathom, where the situation got complicated. It was $10 there if you'd bought a ticket ahead (which I'd done, at the festival), or $15 at the door. Max, Chris, and Geo. got in line to buy a ticket, while I sailed right in. I assume they got tired of waiting, because I never saw them inside.

Nothing has really changed in this town. Tom and I hung out for a while. David was there, so we danced some, but by about 12:30, I'd had it. I left without saying goodbye (except for Tom).

So, now I'm sitting on Mel's futon, thinking about John and my life in S.F. and realizing it's not so bad. Sure,I'm broke, and sure, I don't do as many things as I'd like, but the city has just so much more to offer. Having my choice vindicated feels great.

Previously Next