Part I: January through March
I started 2008 with wonderful friends in scenic (and rather chilly that time of year) Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. One of my oldest, closest friends, Scott, had come to DC for the holiday and we were invited to the beach by my friends Verne and Shawn.
We spent the holiday in a charming little B&B called The Sea Witch, and landed in their house themed after the 1960’s TV Sitcom Bewitched (specifically, we stayed in the Darin II room). As midnight approached, we ventured out in the rain to a party hosted by friends of Verne and Shawn. The party was quite tame, and midnight came with me giving Scott a big ole kisss. As everyone became more and more inebriated one of the guys wanted everyone to strip down to their underpants. While I was not about to do this, Scott dropped his pants to reveal some hot-pink briefs with white trim. I knew it was time to head out at this point.
On New Year’s Day, we checked out of the B&B and proceeded back to Virginia, with a stop in Dover so that Scott could visit another state capitol building and we went to Best Buy and purchased brand new digital cameras - you have to love “tax-free” Delaware!
Later in January, I made a trip to North Carolina to see Jinx and Cory, with the intention of attending a Carolina Gold Drum & Bugle Corp rehearsal. I wanted to see what this DCA Corp was all about. I ended up meeting a lot of people, learned a great deal about marching and became very excited to become part of this organization’s rebuilding effort. Little did I know how much this event would steer the rest of my year. I won’t mention every single rehearsal for the season, but I ended up going to Rocky Mount for rehearsals 2 weekends a month through Labor Day.
February approached and I got some mind-blowing news at work. My co-worker had decided to take another job outside of the company and Valentine’s Day would be his last day. To say that I panicked a bit would be an understatement. I had dreams about work where my boss kept asking me why I did not know something, and all I could do was stand there silently. In hindsight, this was a wonderful thing for me professionally. The co-worker had been very territorial on the functions of the office and with him gone, I was able to learn a great deal in a very short amount of time. To help facilitate the transition, my boss asked me to attend a Society for International Affairs conference in Miami at the beginning of March.
As the conference neared, I decided to make a weekend out of my time in South Florida. I contacted my friend Chris, who lives in Ft. Lauderdale, and told him that I was coming to town and to get a party together. On Saturday evening, March 1, I celebrated my 32nd Birthday with Chris, his new boyfriend Ken, Adam & John (other friends from Lauderdale - see below) and Chris’s co-worker Dierdra at a wonderful Brazilian steakhouse in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. I stuffed myself and after dinner we headed back to Chris’s for a good night’s sleep. The next morning, we went to one of the millions of “Original Pancake Houses” and then Chris took me to my hotel in Miami to get ready for the conference – which was very good, by the way. I learned a lot about International Traffic in Arms (ITAR) regulations, Technical Assistance Agreements (TAA) and Export Licenses.
March also included Easter Sunday. Shawn, Verne, Larry and I decided to have a nice Sunday Brunch and celebrate the holiday. We went to a charming little restaurant in NW DC called Chef Geoff’s and had a wonderful conversation along with wonderful food. To keep the spirit of the holiday alive, Larry even brought chocolate bunnies for us!
Finally, I closed out the first quarter of the year by attending the LGBA event, Experience the Music, in Indianapolis. It was a great time to spend with lots of friends from around the country and was documented at length on this blog, so I won’t go into details. But it was a wonderful event and one that I hope can continue for years to come.
Stay tuned for Part II, April through June.
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