super busy gay bumblebees invade DC

I'm amazed I survived last week. The two days after I returned from Ireland I was the biggest bitch in DC from jet lag and leprechaun separation anxiety. And I swear I didn't eat any tainted Irish pork during my trip. The pork I ate was safe, thick and delicious. I savored every bit of hot Irish pork as much as I could, and I feel great about it.

Upon returning to the U.S. I was met with appointments every night of the week, and a looming big fat final paper for my public relations techniques class, finished in much haste last night. There was also the National LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Initiative seminars and events to go to, thanks to a kind and thoughtful invite from Mike Rogers of the infamous outing blog BlogActive. Due to a very busy schedule I was only able to attend about 1/3 of the seminars, but it was worth it and I got to meet a lot of passionate and fun bloggers.

I observed that most bloggers can't sit still for more than 10 minutes or so without messing with some device, particularly Eric Leven. He's a hyper Ritalin sponge, jumping around the room like a cricket in a microwave. But that's OK because he's woofy. I also got to hang out with Joe.My.God and Father Tony, and also met little Buffalo bearcub buffawhat Nate and Blabbeando, who always takes good notes. I said hello to Miss Pam's House Blend, and met Michael and Zack from The New Gay who were part of a discussion panel about group blogging.

On Saturday we had lunch with the Victory Fund International Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference attendees and I got to hear openly gay U.S. Congressman Barney Frank speak, and later a panel led by Miss Pam House Blend on winning coalitions for the common good. Later that afternoon I listened to Mike Stark of Calling All Wingnuts, Scott Schmidt of Boi From Troy, and Mr. Mike Rogers discuss using the web as a power tool in the fight for equality.

Fast forward to acting as the A/V geek for our rugby team's 10th anniversary dinner. It was good to see many of the Old Skool Renegades and gurls, and celebrate a good season and kick off another decade of gay(ish) rugby. The event was held at the American Legion hall on Capitol Hill, where the bartender was mighty generous with his pours. I had three tumblers of whiskey only slightly tainted by Coke. By the end of it I forgot to grab my camera, projectors and laptops as I headed out into the haze in my drunkedness.

But I was remarkably chipper the next day for some more gay blogger conferencing, with some media presentation training from Joel Silberman, and public relations tactics with Cathy Renna. Then I rushed to an unnecessarily long rugby team annual meeting where I got voted in again to be on the team board of directors. I will reprezent.

So I've now been sucked into the socialist gay agenda "scene" and am a mindless automaton beholden to the will of HRC. Seriously though, I did learn a few new tricks and am confident the gay bloggers out there are a passionate bunch and are out there to help and make positive change, so stay tuned!