What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Monday, June 02, 2003

WHAT'S PORTUGUESE FOR 'AWKWARD'?

Freshly back from 'Portugal Night' at Woody's, a thankfully-annual night of drag queens with maudlin torch songs and rowdy twentysomethings screaming for cerveza. No 'fiery Latino' stereotypes were laid to rest tonight, I can tell you, and if you think that sounds racist, well I'm not the one who referred to them as "wretched creatures" at one point.

It was all rather wearying, especially when I received an out-of -the-blue dinner invite from a friend of a friend who was, well, drunk. Two of the sadder offshoots of my job at the pub are a woeful lack of free time to risk on an X-factor and a growing intolerance for drunks. I don't want to be around people when they're smashed, let alone accept dinner dates from them.

At first, I simply said that my schedule this week was solidly booked, the next one still unknown. "Not good enough," he said, "Gimme a date. Pick a night, right now." Does this work on other people? Because it just annoyed me. Then things got strange when he mentioned how our mutual friend "will get so mad if he finds out I'm going out with you!" "Why?" I asked. "Let's just say he'll be mad," was all I got. Oy, could this be more awkward?. Meanwhile, I'm still trying to actually do my job during all this and getting ticked off.

What seemingly linked all this tonight was a sense of drama. Whether it was Portugal pride, a fun night out, or a request for a dinner date, everything was high stakes, life or death. I hate that. I feel lucky to have mellowed in recent years (yes, if you think I can be fussy now, imagine ten or fifteen years back!) and I've grown increasingly weary with this need for emotional theatrics that I see, especially in gay circles. Please just bloody well relax, people -- things will work out one way or the other. In the meantime, I will happily be having dinner alone.