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It's been a week since my Toronto trip and I still haven't written about it. Weird, especially considering others were writing about it while I was still flying home. But I've been sick with a cold this week and by the time I got home in the evening the last thing I wanted to do was sit in front of the computer and type, much as I'd been doing at work all day. The first thing I wanted to do was sleep. But that didn't come easily.

Anyway, I'm feeling better now, so on with the tales...

This was my third trip to Toronto, the first was for work in 1997 and the next was in June 2001 to visit Scooter when he was home for the summer. This time was to see...hmmmm, let's call him "Max," to protect his privacy...an online friend for the past 6 years or so whom I'd never met in person. It's still kinda weird watching someone grow, watching their life develop, yet never meeting them. Sort of like a TV character on a long-running show except this one is real. And definitely a character.

Much of the reason for the timing of the trip was that Max had gone through a breakup similar to mine only a couple days earlier, with the ironic twist that he was somewhat more in Adrian's position rather than in mine. That has made for some interesting phone/e-mail discussions as it's helped me learn more about what happened here. We'd agreed a couple months ago that I should pop up for a visit but between his work schedule and my work and travel it didn't make sense until now. And also, Air Canada had a sale.

I stayed in a hotel just a block off Church Street, the heart of Toronto's gay village (and also the setting for the American Queer As Folk's "Liberty Avenue"). Max picked me up soon after my arrival and took me to Zelda's on Church Street, a cute little diner where they serve double rum and cokes, so yay for that. We'd agreed that our first night there we would not discuss the status of our relationships, and that gave us a great chance to fill in the blanks behind our websites. Let's face it, none of us are 100% open online, so it's nice to finally see the reality, kinda like VH-1's "Behind the Music," only interesting.

Max is sweeter in person than I could have imagined, wonderfully outgoing, sexy as hell, and a fun person to go out with. After a couple hours at the diner we headed out to Crews and Tango, a largely lesbian dance club that the gay boys take over, and immersed ourselves in the diversity that is Church Street. Plenty of cuties, good music, fun dancing, drinks mixed just right, and just a bit of grinding. Max, who's a closet goth boy (he heads to a goth club on Thursday night, so sadly I missed my chance) was wearing some great clothes that fit him just right. More on those later.

After running into an old/current/not really sure flame of his we called it a night. Max had a hard night the night before (take that any way you want) and needed his rest so we agreed to meet up Saturday for brunch. I got up a little early and took a walk down Church Street to feel a different atmosphere, and also to watch for boys making a Walk of Shame. Didn't see any -- either Tornoto boys are good boys or they all go home right after their fun. Or they pack an extra shirt. Who knows?

Max came by and we ran out to brunch, where a very nice but slighty confused waitress thought we were with a group of 4 women and managed to confuse our orders as well as the bill (we offered to cover the tip if the women took care of the bill, but they were too smart for that). Then he introduced me to the Toronto subway as we headed down to the CN Tower to get some amazing views of the city. Very nice. After seeing the sights and having some coffee we chatted about relationships just a bit. Afterwards we ran over to the Royal Ontario Museum and perused the Buddhist art exhibit as well as the Italian Design show, both of which were way cool. Great way to spend a beautiful day.

Max had a date Saturday evening so while he satisfied that obligation (which was very satisfying, from what I undertand) I kicked around town a bit, exploring different streets in the area. Later he picked me up and we ran off to Woody's for a few minutes, then cabbed to Chinatown for "Asian Express," a monthly party put on by an Asian group that was celebrating its resurgence in a really sketchy building. But it was fun, the DJ was very good, the drinks were once again excellent, and Max looked Supercute in his Superman t-shirt he wore just for me (I remembered it from a photo years ago). I started chatting with Sunny, a guy who'd ended up there by himself because his friends cancelled out at the last minute, and Max headed home by 1am because really, the poor boy hadn't gotten much sleep in a few nights. Sunny and I hung out and talked for a while then took off as the place closed. He was very cool, a nature photographer, and that's the best kind of photographer there is.

Sunday morn Max picked me up as I checked out and we went back to Chinatown in the daylight to have a dim sum brunch, which was very good and almost too much food. I like dim sum but it's very easy to get carried away. We did a little shopping at Eaton Centre, a big downtown mall where I found a couple cute shirts but also discovered that the great deals for Americans weren't quite as great as usual, given the current state of the US dollar. I told Max "I want to see the store where you got your goth pants," so off we went. I was just going to look, but as I tried things on...well, suffice to say, I'm going to have to take some photos. Seriously, some of these clothes look really hot, and since I never say that about myself, well, it must really be true this time! I wouldn't have gotten them but I did think they looked good, and pretty daring (for me, anyway) and Max really liked them, and he's a good judge, and, well, I'm just going to have to visit a goth club. That's just all there is to it.

And then I came home. End of story.

Except to say I had an AMAZINGLY good time, and I am so indebted to Max for showing me a cool city through his eyes, and for opening up his life to me more than he does for most, and for being a good set of ears, and just for being such a great guy all these years. I made a commitment when I jumped headfirst into the Web that I wouldn't get too close to people online unless I planned to meet them someday. I'm so glad I met this boy...he's very special, and not a "riding the short bus to school" kind of special but a "huge heart" special. Yay for him.

Labels: Travel