(no subject)

[zana16]

Hee! So two coworkers--one male and one female, hereafter referred to as "M" and "F" since those are the respective genders they identify with, although not necessarily the genders they would like to be--and I braved the wilds of Wheeling, West Virginia, to see if in fact there was such a thing as a gay club in this cultural desert of homophobia, conservatism, and Republicanism. I had my doubts, which were born out when the first club we looked for did not in fact exist. We even went into a porn shop to get directions, which was hilarious. After drinks and bad nineties' music at an alehouse, we continued our search for the other two bars we'd found listed on the internet. To our surprise they did in fact exist! And there were bona fide lesbians there, as well. The one we settled on had bad eighties music and bad pop music playing, as well as reruns of Newlyweds on the TV, but they also had an upstairs with a dancefloor and minimal levels of sketch. Still, M got hit on by numerous dirty old men, which was hilarious. M doesn't talk much unless he's drunk, when he becomes goofy and loud, so that was fun. We danced a bit, M made the mistake of going to the men's room, and we were approached on behalf of a biracial girl both F and I had been admiring, who was interested in F. It was all rather middle-school and a young grocerystore clerk tried to get me to sound out M on his behalf--very amusing, since M is rather squeamish around gay men, despite being rather gay himself. It was wonderful to have people to talk to about the queer community, and it restored my faith in humanity a bit that yes, there are actually my kind of people even in the wasteland of rural Ohio/West Virginia. I was very amused as well to be asked to define my sexuality, since I have no intention of ever putting such labels on myself, and neither do M or F. My response was that I am "whatever", but I had no idea what to say when asked whether M is, in fact, "gay". We just don't really think in those terms, I guess.

I talked to a young lady whose line of work is selling sextoys at "tupperware parties", which is not really the expected response to the seemingly-neutral question "so what do you do?" She gave me her card, which brought to mind the fantastic scenario of having her come talk to the girls' dorm. Oh God would the parents scream! We didn't get home until after two in the morning, which was delightful since I haven't had a night out in months. I was awoken finally by my cat--who abhors to have anything at all on his windowsill, knocking my potted plant (Sylvia Planth) onto my head. I like to think of myself as relatively tolerant and easygoing, so I made myself laugh. M and I are now closer, at last--I think we may even be friends now. All in all a successful weekend.

This week I watched Maurice and Stiff Upper Lips, which were a wonderfully juxtaposed duo, since the latter is a very clever parody of the Merchant Ivory films based on the books by the author of the former. Also watched Roger and Me--the final sequence is just brilliant, brilliantly biting. AND I finished Hornblower and the Hotspur, Hornblower During the Crisis, and started Hornblower and the Atropos. Am now convinced that Horatio Hornblower is one of the best-crafted characters ever written. I can almost forgive Forester for not coming up with Archie Kennedy himself; it's not often that a television series does something better than the book, but Kennedy is a brilliant foil to Hornblower's taciturn and obsessive introspection. I've several Sharpe videos on order from the public library, and tonight I plan to watch The Scarlet Pimpernel whilst working on Valentines, so obviously I am a little wrapped up in Regency England and Revolutionary/Napoleonic France at the moment. Wheee!

Comments

[lycaste.livejournal.com]

Have you read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell? I'm about 1/4 of the way through it, and so far so good; Very graciously paced for a modern novel. They say it's like Harry Potter written by Jane Austen. It seems like you would enjoy it.

[zana16.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'll check it out. Yay for good books!

"tupperware parties"

[ellirpa.livejournal.com]

Talbot actually had a non-tupperware "tupperware parties" at tea this year, and the Elf and the Ranger are currently reading a book entitled something to the effect of "What Do You Say to a Naked Elf?", in which the heroine suppliments her income in a similiar manner. The "tupperware parties" have infiltrated.

"What Do You Say to a Naked Elf?"
synopsis to follow:
Apart from her being a TV-and-movie junkie and a saleswoman extraordinaire of adult lotions, potions and things, plain Jane Drysdale's life was nothing unusual. That was, until a moment of reckless driving catapulted her into a fairytale world like a J.R.R. Tolkien book on crack. From Walker, Michigan, to a place of wacko wizards, sexually repressed elves and dangerous dwarves, Jane was suddenly fulfilling an epic destiny that held certain death—and even more certain love. Even the newly legible tattoo on her shoulder seemed to proclaim the rightness of her transport: "Forever joined, heart upon heart, world upon world." Everything started with Jane on trial for her life and her Legolas-lookalike lawyer taking his short off, and the first thing she needed to know was...What Do You Say to a Naked Elf?

Re: "tupperware parties"

[zana16.livejournal.com]

Published fanfic perhaps? Hee! I shall have to read it!