The White Peril 白禍

Eric, Tom, and I had our second (what looks to be) annual Philadelphia Phags blog meet-up last night. (Tom's comment: "I like that the 4000 mile away guy always brings the 15 mile away guys together." That's always the way of it, huh?) I was probably fine to drive home, but I was nodding off somewhat, so I ended up staying in what can only be described as Eric's guesthouse. After showing me where the bathroom light switch and stuff were, he pointed out that there was a computer in the bedroom "in case you feel like blogging." At the suggestion that I might not want to let a single night go without posting something, I just smiled--Eric, honey, I think you're just the tiniest bit more into blogging than I am.

Of course, this morning, I woke up and realized I didn't have a book with me, and I don't want to go making noises in Eric's living room in case he's still asleep. So here I am logged on, though I can't say I'm quite in the mood to be trawling the Japanese media for interesting stories.

So then, just to keep the gay theme of the day going....

We met Tom on-site at his new venture, the Philadelphia AIDS Thrift (PAT for short). Like many crossword puzzles, it has an aerie. Like many gay-friendly thrift stores, it has an entertaining selection of books, housewares, and fashion-victim clothes. Mindful of the weight of my luggage, I confined myself to picking up a few paperbacks; but if you're in the area, it's worth checking out. (Unless you're around twenty-three, my advice is to walk resolutely past the leather pants, BTW.)

Mary at Gay Orbit has a message for straight people: Gay people en masse don't care whether you see, like, dislike, swoon for, or find major socio-politico portent in Brokeback Mountain. To coin a phrase, it's only a movie.

Uh, I can't think of anything else gay to say except maybe that Atsushi sounds even sexier than usual when he's half-asleep, and I'm almost sorry that when I get back to Tokyo, our nightly phone call will go back to taking place when he's still up. Speaking of being awake, this might be a good time to see whether my host is ambulatory. Enjoy the rest of the weekend, everyone.

Added at 11:50: Eric has posted about the visit, complete with way too many pictures of my un-photogenic self. It's worth clicking through to see the great pic of Tom in front of the poster, though. Notice that he and the shark have the same untrustworthy smile.