Eccentric Flower:199904/home again jiggity jog
From Eccentric Flower
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april twenty-seventh home again, jiggity jog The flight home was easier (and an hour shorter, thanks to that there jet stream). I got an exit row again - I think I have now used up my Air Travel Karma for the year. I am pooped and I had over two hundred emails waiting for me this evening. Fortunately most of them were from the journaller's list and will probably be deleted unread. I hate doing that, but I have so much catching up it's not funny, and list traffic is the least of my concerns. Anyway, speaking of catching up ... when we left our Intrepid Hero(ine) and the love of her life in SF, Saturday had just ended. On Sunday we had a nice brunch. I get intimidated by being around more than four people at a time, but I managed to soften up after a while. With three people around who really adore cooking, the brunch was pretty great. I am not sure I can have a close friendship with someone that comes from a culture where food isn't important. Where I come from, food is a social event, a culture, a religion, et cetera et cetera ... life is often centered around food, and we like it that way. Nonelvis and Mary Anne come from the same kinds of culture. Fortunately I have only been in one place where food wasn't treated that way. Unfortunately, it's where I happen to be living. But I have already done the rant about New England and food - long ago - you'll find it in the Circular Cruises. We mostly sat around in food coma until it was time to get ready for the party which was being given by the authors whose book-release party was our ostensible reason for coming. Whew! Got that? Let me try again. Anne Semans and Cathy Winks wrote a book called The Woman's Guide to Sex on the Web. It's a good book. Nonelvis and I, in our role as mouth organ, are listed in the book. We are also part of a small group of friends who acted as consultants, giving advice and pointing out good places to look for sites. The book-release party - a public event - was at Good Vibrations on Monday. The night before, we "consultants" were at a private party at Anne's house. It was great - we've been dying to meet some of these people, to have faces to go with the words, for a long time. Of course, we "talked shop" for three hours, comparing notes on what you might call the web sex industry, but goodness! We could probably have talked all night. It was a blast. The next day, we went to Napa Valley and took the tours of several wineries. That was a lot of fun - we built ourself an excellent picnic from cheeses and meats and good bread and a bottle of Riesling, found a by-mail-and-web-only winemaker which has amazing wines for the price, and picked up some interesting facts and scenery. It did tire us out, and when we got home we barely had time to scarf some Ethiopian food - which we had delivered, wonder of wonders - and get dressed for the book party. I had decided the night before - after much vaccillating - to wear one of the two dresses I'd brought ... after finding out that at least one other person would be wearing something outré. I don't mind walking the streets and getting weird looks from strangers, but if I'm going to make a fool of myself in front of my friends, I want company. I have always cared more about how I look for my friends than for strangers. I wore my contacts on the plane to SF, even though I know that airplane air and lighting irritates them something fierce, because I'm vain and I didn't want Mary Anne and her housemates to see me with my glasses on. On the flight home - who's going to see me except Nonelvis, who presumably has no illusions by now? - I wore my glasses. Anyway, the dress got very little notice save a few compliments, which I consider a smashing success. (Open ridicule would have been a failure.) I didn't think I was going to say anything about the website, since I am not a very good speaker (Cathy did warn the audience that "our guests are people who are used to working in a written medium"), but eventually I did speak and I acquitted myself well. The event was, as far as I can tell, a huge success - the store was packed full. All of us were surprised at the turnout, Anne and Cathy not least. It was a very high-energy experience. I do wonder sometimes about how far this community of people who are willing to be publicly enthusiastic and supportive about sex reaches - I wonder, to use Cathy's excellent phrase, about the size of the "Good Vibrations sex-positive love bubble." It's different outside the bubble - very different - and mouth organ has wrestled with that many times. But that may turn out to be this week's article, so let's just leave it be for now. That was Monday. Today is Tuesday, and I've spent all day on a plane, so I think I'll shut up and read back email now. If you're waiting on a reply from me, be patient - it's coming. © columbine |
