surprisingly, even though i’m mostly unemployed (by that i mean that i have a job, i just haven’t started it yet), i have still managed to keep myself busy with all sorts of fun (and cheap!) stuff.

a couple weekends ago, kate and i went to visit our friend sarah (who is dating a woman named sarah…they are collectively known as “the sarahs”) for dinner. they are currently expecting their first child, which is both awesome and exciting, and i couldn’t be happier for them. i know they will be great moms to their little hepzibah or methuselah. (because of course they will give them awkward biblical names.)

afterwards, kate and i went down for the second Cincinnati Guerilla Queer Bar, which took place at sully’s sports bar downtown. the thing that i like about this movement-that-is-also-an-excellent-excuse-to-drink, is that there are so many different kinds of people that come out for this event. unlike a regular queer bar, which sometimes seems like it’s as much a meat market as any straight bar, the CGQB draws a pretty diverse crowd, from singles to couples, gays to straights, white to black, and everything in between. and everyone is there for a common purpose; most decidedly NOT to find someone to take home that night. okay, maybe some people were there for that reason. unfortunately, all of the people I was looking at were gay, including the founder of CGQB, ethan philbrick, who is so friggin’ cute i could put him in my pocket. if, you know, i had 6+ foot tall pockets.

the next day, kate and i headed to findlay market for a bite to eat and some grocery shopping while jenn was at work.  that night, the three of us headed down to fountain square to watch mayor mallory turn on the genius of water, replete with rozzi’s fireworks and live music, and when we went to graeter’s afterwards, who should we run into but ethan philbrick (and friends)! he told us that we missed the “same sex kiss-in” that happened at the fountain right afterwards, but since i didn’t have had anyone to kiss, same-sex or otherwise, i wasn’t too bothered by the fact that i missed it.

the next morning, my friend brian invited me to go see “the foreigner” at playhouse in the park. i had wanted to see it because of its premise (a shy englishman pretends to not speak english so he won’t have to talk to the people of the small town in georgia where he’s staying). it sounded like it would be a shenanigan-filled comedy, and i was glad to discover that i was right! parts of the play had me crying with laughter…i would highly recommend it to anyone.

this past weekend started early for me…thursday night, i went to see “vigils” at the know theater with jenn and kate (jenn had scored some free tickets), and while i thought it was good and well-acted, i began to get antsy during the last half hour of the show. had there been an intermission, i doubt that would have happened, but apparently they decided not to have an intermission for this particular performance.

after “vigils,” the three of us headed down to southgate house to see several bands, but mostly jupiter one, a band from NYC that jenn knew, as her friend is roommates with one of the band members. i have to say that they put on an awesome live show. in my experience, sometimes a band can sound awesome on an album, but then really suck as a live act. i’m glad to say that jupiter one does not disappoint, either as a live act or on their album. at the end of their set, the lead singer mentioned that they needed somewhere to crash that night, and since jenn and kate have a huge apartment with a virtually empty finished attic/top floor, they invited the band to stay at their place. i generally crash at jenn and kate’s over the weekend, so that was how the three of us ended up having a sleepover with an entire band. (trust me, it sounds a lot more scandalous than it actually was.)

[NOTE: being friends with jenn is beneficial if you want to get more involved in the arts and music community in cincinnati. free tickets! band sleepovers!]

friday night, we headed down to cincy punkfest at southgate house, and although i’m not a huge punk fan – that’s more kate’s territory – the seedy seeds were playing. and thank god they were playing in the ballroom this year (last year, they played in the lounge, and we all ended up drenched in sweat it was so stiflingly hot).  the music festival was having a silent auction to benefit a no-kill animal shelter, and one of the items up for bid was a picnic for 3 people with the seedy seeds at a local park, with food provided and the band playing a song of the winners’ choosing. someone had bid $40 on the picnic, and jenn pulled “price is right” and bid $41. and won! so on may 17th (i think), kate and jenn and i will be hanging out with mike and meg and their new drummer, brian. and i am happy. now, to choose a song….

just listing everything i’ve done in the last couple weeks makes me exhausted just thinking about it. but i suppose that i should enjoy my time off…unfortunately my new job got pushed back to april 27th, but if everything that the hiring manager told me is true, i’ll likely have to “hit the ground running” and will probably be working 50-60 hours a week. i am certainly NOT complaining about overtime. seeing as i’m generally used to working 2 jobs at a time, 50-60 hours a week isn’t really that big of a deal. i’d rather be making time and a half on all of those hours-past-40 that i’m working anyway.

the only thing that i think might suck about this new job will be finding time to take off of work. i was hoping to take some time off later this year to go back to the UK and visit old and new friends, but before i can make any definite plans, i need to determine the scope of this new job and whether or not it will be feasible. if not, it may have to wait until next year.

oy. i had hoped to blog about something more substantial than my activities over the last few weeks, with a bit more insight into a particular event, rather than listing the events themselves. but i suppose the “insight” part of blogging might have to wait until a later post.

for now, i leave you with my favorite easter ecard from someecards.com: