Ok, I can't believe I'm saying this..... but, I actually had a wonderful time at the party. I'm so glad I went. And it was really hard getting there because it was so much easier to just go home and avoid-- avoid people, socializing, thinking.

I ended up running into several people I've known over the years I've lived in SF and mingled with them. I even met some new people. The party was about 300 and full of mostly gay men in their 30's. Perfect meat market, but without a lot of the annoying bravado of the Castro or clubs.

The evening ended with my dining with two close friends from my entre to SF two years ago. Eric and Mitch were there for me in the summer of '99 when I moved across the country. They allowed me to crash at their place for my first two weeks in town, with all my junk. And I pretty much used their house, in the Castro, as base camp for three months until I got settled. Very wonderful, sweet gay male couple. And, sadly, we haven't seen much of each other since. But tonight we ran into each other at the party, reconnected, and followed by having a wonderful dinner with a friend of theirs-- more new people for me. Wonderful evening. Sometimes things can work out afterall.