Fun and Games Dept

Today was the reason we came to Ireland for this little trip. Today Earl and I were witnesses to Rick and Helen getting married.

We started out the day by heading to Limerick, where Rick and Helen exchanged their vows in a very brief civil ceremony. The ceremony lasted no more than 10 minutes. While quite nice, I felt like I was watching a wedding at high speed. i don’t think Las Vegas wedding ceremonies are even this brief.

After Limerick, we headed to Gregan’s Castle Hotel, located near Ballyvaughan. This hotel is a beautiful spot tucked away in the Irish countryside. While it has amenities found in your normal four-star hotel, it’s a quaint little place with a decidedly bed and breakfast feel. It is quite comfortable.

We readied ourselves and dressed in kilts of the county colours and headed to the Cliffs of Moher for the blessing. We were joined by Dara, a local monk who performed a pagan wedding ceremony.

Here’s Earl and I waiting for the bride to arrive. Rick was kind enough to snap the photo.

The ceremony was held at O’Brien Tower at the Cliffs of Moher.

The cliffs had a mystical shroud of fog. It added to the ambience.

The crew at the Cliffs were kind enough to provide buggy service for the bride and groom. Earl and I walked the 800 m from the car to the site of the ceremony. We were the subject of numerous tourist photos and had to stop several times as requests were made in several languages.

After the service, we headed back to Gregan’s Castle Hotel. Along the way we stopped along the coast for more photos. I think this snapshot captures the magic that was in the air. I loved Helen’s dress and pagan-esque cape.

After we got settled back into the suite, Earl was kind enough to snap a photo of me in my wedding-witness attire.

Afterwards we all settled in to the hotel for the night, we had a delicious dinner at the hotel restaurant and a nightcap before calling it a night.

Today has been a truly blessed, magical day.

Earl and I and Rick and Helen took the day and headed south toward Cork, as we went to tour Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone. The weather was beautiful today, with sunny skies and the temperature around 17 degrees (62 fahrenheit).

The drive was only two hours or so and was quite enjoyable. Only a short section was along dual carriageway (freeway/expressway), the rest was along two lane roads through the countryside. I really like the way Ireland marks the roadways; the signs are simple to follow and you always know where you’re headed. I hope it’s a trend that continues throughout the entire country. We also stopped at a fast food restaurant much like McDonalds for a quick bite to eat, it’s called SuperMac’s.

Blarney Castle is about a five minute walk from the entrance to the grounds.

We found the castle to be quite impressive. The grounds are beautiful and the castle itself is beautiful. Unlike Runbatty Castle we were in yesterday, there’s no furnishings at all in Blarney Castle. This gives the touring experience a more “raw” feel.

Here’s Earl standing next to the watch tower, found along the walk to the castle.

After a climb up a very narrow, very steep spiral staircase, we made it to the top of the castle, where the Blarney Stone is found. Here we are on the roof.

The line for the honour of kissing the Blarney Stone was short. There was little debate amongst the four of us. I ended up being the only one in the group to actually kiss the Blarney Stone. Make a tick mark next to one more thing accomplished in my life. I have a souvenir photo of my actual kiss, Earl snapped this photo after I was being brought back up to the surface.

For those unaware, you just don’t lean over and give this stone a kiss. A man sits there as you lie on your back and spidey your way a little bit down the wall, where the ground is a distant site many stories away, and then you give this stone in the wall a peck. Another older gentleman snaps your photo and you’re given a ticket with your file number. Grand things are to happen as you’re bestowed the gift of gab from kissing the stone. Earl said I was gabby enough. Apparently I now have extra gab.

After Blarney Castle we did some touring around the City of Cork a bit, which is a very nice city, before heading back to Ennis for supper and hanging out before calling it a night.

There are more pictures on my flickr page, just click one of the photos about to get there.

So today has been our first full day in Ireland. In all actuality, aside from a short nap this afternoon it has been a continuation of yesterday, but with the time difference and wildly scheduled meals, I’ve hardly noticed the marathon day aside from the slight dizziness and buzzing in my ears.

We are having a great time. The first order of business was to drive to Limerick to try on our tuxes/kilts for the wedding on Wednesday. Here we are, complete with rental tags.

After we confirmed everything fit properly and we also navigated the mechanics of a kilt, we did some touring of Limerick. Afterwards we headed back up N18 toward our current homebase of Ennis.

I drive like a native of this beautiful land.

On the way through, we stopped Bunratty Castle for some touring.

Since we don’t have buildings nearly this old in the United States, I have to admit that I was quite intrigued by the castle and it’s grounds. I was very impressed with some of the rooms, including this one with it’s lavish furnishings.

This evening went to a local pub for some dinner and drinks and did some touring around the town center of Ennis. It has been a great start to our vacation.

Earl and I spent the evening in the Capital city of Albany for the Albany River Rats hockey game. I’m not much of a hockey fan, but I always enjoy going to a game for several reasons, the least of which is the actual game itself. It’s not that I don’t enjoy watching the game, but I’m always so fascinated by the people at the game.

First of all, hockey stands out in my head because it’s the only team sport I can think of that encourages unsportsmanlike behavior. (That cringing you hear is my sister’s boyfriend, a professional hockey player. They call him The Instigator.) The crowd goes wild when two or more hockey players start throwing down their equipment and beat the hell out of each other. What’s up with that?

One of my favorite activities at a game is to make as many odd noises as possible. The Jumbotron and the announcer both encourage everyone to get loud, so I go through a whole selection of loud noises, including the traditional sportsfan chants, bear-like ‘woofs’, Xena war cries and blood curling screams. If the encouragement for noise continues through this selection, I then resort to yelling “kitty” as if I was beckoning the cat from 50 acres away.

The neighboring fans just love me.

When our team makes a goal, I like to hold my popcorn and jump up in the air so that I send a shower of popcorn to celebrate. I feel it’s a fan thing to do.

Tonight’s game was a bit of a bummer, in that we had to go through various overtime exercises before finally losing the game, but what I found more disturbing was the rendition of “God Bless America” and our National Anthem. A bunch of elementary school kids were herded out onto the ice (on carpet pieces), where the music teacher grabbed the mic and croaked out some weird verse of the former that I had never heard of. To keep it interesting, she consistently ignored the key and avoided any sort of tempo. Her students then joined in behind her. Since she was playing random with the pitch, the students had no hope of keeping up with her and it was, in my opinion, probably the worst rendition of “God Bless America” I have heard in my 39 years on this planet.

But they had spirit.

This was quickly followed up with a junior high chorus, also herded out on the ice, who promptly sang our National Anthem, again in random keys that changed throughout the song. Deciding enough was enough, I joined a drunk man several rows back by singing the National Anthem as strongly as I could and I chose to remain in the key that the group was in when I decided to join them. If I’m going to be proud of this country, I’m going to do it out loud.

Now you’re probably thinking I’m throwing some cheap shots out and let’s see me do any better. Tell you what, I’ve sang the National Anthem in sports arenas on several occasions (solo and a cappella) so I feel like I can be a bit of a critique on the subject. I’m just saying. I would welcome the chance to do it again.

All in all it was a fun night.

Earl and I are at the local Panera, having a little bite to eat and doing to Mac surfing in public. It seems like a fitting way to wrap up the weekend, as it’s seemingly been all about relaxation, being in public and eating.

Last night was Bear Night in Albany and it was rather enjoyable. I liked seeing our friends from the Capital District and meeting new folks as well, but the club was JAMMED packed with people. The “Bear Den”, which is in the basement of the club, has a typical cellar low-ceiling and little to no ventilation. While I find the smell of a “natural man” quite intoxicating, sometimes a cub needs a breath of fresh air. So Earl and I had a hot and sweaty time and we weren’t even doing anything leud. Well, nothing out of the ordinary.

On the main floor of the club is good-sized dance floor. It was somewhat cooler up on that floor, but still relatively hot. The DJ was playing great music last night, at least from what we heard. He had this habit of mixing in the middle of a musical phrase, for example halfway through a verse of in the middle of the chorus. The boys would be jamming to “How Will I Know” by Whitney Houston and before one could find out if he really loves me (or yell “Bobby!”) we were suddenly in the midst of Conga, which was then promptly interrupted by Bad Girls. Before we were bad, bad girls, we were then into some cha-cha song. It was then that I gave up on trying to dance for the night.

Even though the clubs in that part of the state are open until 4 a.m., Earl and I decided to call it a night and head back to Motel 6 around 1:30. They left the light on for us. I went straight to bed, as apparently I’m getting old or something, but Earl roamed the motel looking for the afterhours party. He came back to the room about half of an hour later, so assumedly there wasn’t much going on.

This morning I sent a text message to Sean and Jeffrey to see if we could get together for breakfast. Jeffrey was still in bed, but Sean and his friend Andrew were on their way to the Gateway Diner and they invited us to join them. What a lovely breakfast. It was good to relax and just hang with friends this morning, so it made the whole Albany experience worthwhile.

This afternoon, I decided to get a little exercise (see previous entry) and then attempted to mow the lawn, where I promptly lost interest and decided I’d finish tomorrow. So now we’re here at Panera. Homework awaits before bedtime.

And there’s the life of two bears on a weekend in the middle of September.

The social whirlwind continues, as Earl and I have installed ourselves in the capital city of Albany, New York. We started with a diner-iffic lunch at the Metro 20 diner and then stopped at the behemoth Crossgates Mall for an obligatory Apple store excursion. I really wanted a case for the new iPhone, so I picked up a rubber case made by InCase. I’m loving it.

Tonight is bear night and Earl and I will be hanging out with friends and growling and woofing in various directions. It’s always a good time.

Note: I wrote a blog entry about this adventure last night, but for some reason my ISP decided to restore the hard disk the site lives on and they wiped it out, along with several other files I uploaded last night. I apologize if you experience deja vu while reading this.

So yesterday Earl and I joined my high school friend Scott and his partner Mark for “Out In The Park” at Six Flags New England. Here’s a little blurb from the Out In The Park website.

Out In The Park is a Gay Day event organized by a not-for-profit organization. We are a dedicated group of unity-minded people that are interested in creating events that are fun, all-ages, social opportunities for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex and Allies community to Get OUT with their friends and family.

The events that we plan and organize are warm-up events to National Coming Out Day on October 11th. Our first event, Out In The Park, was held on Saturday, September 27, 1997, at what was then known as Riverside Park (now Six Flags New England). The focus of the events we plan and organize, is to foster a sense of pride, dignity and unity among the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning and intersex community and their allies through social and cultural events to promote diversity, visibility, awareness and acceptance throughout the New England region.

First the backstory. Scott and I were the best friends in high school. We went camping together, we went canoeing together, we had the same interests, we even shared a girlfriend (but not in a kinky way, ewwww). Around December 1988 we lost touch with each other. At the True Colors concert in Boston back in June we ran into each other and vowed to stay in touch. Summer schedules are very busy, so this was our weekend to catch up. Here’s a picture of us.

On Saturday night we met up in Hartford (after choosing between Hartford and Springfield, Mass. for a place to spend the night) and went to a place called “City Steam Brewery Cafe”. A brewery and cafe (hence the name), City Steam is a really great place to hang out in Hartford. The food was delicious, my one glass of beer was excellent (all beer is brewed by the owners) and the conversation was great. I highly recommend City Steam.

After dinner we walked and drove around Hartford a bit. We debated going to a movie but ended up at Club Polo, a local drag bar. We left before the show but we had a few drinks and just talked and talked and talked.

Yesterday we went to Six Flags, got our special Out In The Park wristband that got us into the picnic lunch and show if we wanted and then hit the rides.

Mark is a bit of a roller coaster nut, so the first ride up was Superman. I ended up riding in the front seat by myself and while the ride was quite enjoyable, it was the most harrowing of roller coaster rides I had ever been on. I loved it. I felt like I was hovering a little bit when I tried to walk away from the ride.

After Superman we went over to Scream, which is like Disney’s Tower of Terror but outside and facing away from a tower with two other people, so you have the sense of nothing around you. Freefall is fun with friends! Here’s a picture of Mark and I and a young girl that got to hear me scream.

We then headed over to the picnic grove where there was an Out In The Park picnic lunch. There were a couple of cool things about Out In The Park. First of all, it was an official Six Flags event. Secondly, because of the traveling to bear events, Hillside, etc. that Earl and I tend to do, we ran into quite a few people that we’ve met along our adventures. This prompted Scott to comment that we get around. Well!

I tried to take my first self-snapped photo of four, but it didn’t work out so well.

So a nice man offered to take a photo of us near the fountain at the picnic grove.

After the lunch we went back to the rides. After an extremely bumpy ride on one of the wooden roller coasters, Mark found the ride we wanted to do. I had noticed this ride earlier in the day, which looked like a giant spatula with too ends that someone would flip end over end in the air. I called it “The Spatula” or “The Fly Swatter”. Turns out its called The Catapault. Mark wanted to ride so we sent him on his way, in which he reminded me that he rode Scream, so I should go. So off I went.

“The Catapault” has eight rows of six on a platform. There’s two platforms at each of the long arm. When everyone is strapped in and restrained so tightly that bladders are starting to leak, they raise the arm up 50 or so feet and then spin it around like a baton at 30MPH. Our side went forward first. Then it stopped and we went backward while the others went forward first. During the pause between the two spins, Mark told me that he tends to pass out on rides like this. Luckily, he didn’t. I thought I might from my bladder being squeezed but everything held itself together.

To be honest, “The Catapault” didn’t bother me at all. I thought it was a thrilling ride and I would ride it again in a second. I’m not sure about Mark though. Here’s a picture Earl snapped when we got off the ride, I think Mark is faking the smile.

I loved the Out In The Park experience. It was great to see all types of gays and lesbians (bears, circuit boys, lesbians and their families, etc) mingling with the regular Six Flags crowd. Everyone was having a good time and there were no open signs of hostility.

It was also great to get together with Scott and catch up on old times and reignite our friendship. We’re not going to lose touch with each other again. It looks like we have another reason to visit Boston!