Hmmm....I can't tell. New Shoes?

50,000 Leukemians can't be wrong (oh, and this one goes out to Pidge):

Thanks to everyone that contributed, I raised about $300 AUD in just one day for the Leukemia Foundation here in the land of the plunging necklines. Good times. I also display my supraphysiological testosterone levels by mirroring male pattern baldness. It's only fair to give poeple a hint.
It's St. Patty's day today (here, in the future - get in on it!), so I hope to have my tongue dyed green a few hours from now. Yesterday was Chava's birthday, and based on where we ended up, i was happy not to have my tongue dyed green. A bunch of us went out to celebrate with him, starting first at a local Irish pub (aptly named the Corkman, after me), and then to wherever it was the birthday boy wanted to go (he wanted dancing, and specifically to pop music - yet he blew off the "Birthday Princess" tiara Shana had made for him.... so ungrateful). There were about 10 of us in the caravan, so it made the most sense just to let Chava decide where to go, otherwise no one would have agreed on anything. Unfortunately, I think he wanted to accomodate everyone, so he was a little timid with his early choices, and legitimately was concerned for all of our comfort levels by the time we ended up at a gay bar. More on that later. At the first place we went to (actually it was the second, details rushing back), they were advertising absinthe. Most notably it is green, beyond that nothing too special (I started seeing dragons and half naked men later on, but i don't think i was hallucinating). Finally we landed (after a grueling tram ride in which I think we annoyed roughly 100% of our counterparts) at the Peel. And I don't think it was named after the street. After ensuring we were ok following him in, Chava led the march inside. Gotta say, not as many hot lesbians as I was expecting. In fact outside of the small handful of girls in our group, there were probably only 8 to 10 women in the place (although not unlike one of the other bars we were at, which turned into an "3rd annual sausage festival," complete with all the types of dudes you'd find in atlantic city. Let's just say a place playing up their offering of [fake] absinthe doesn't exactly ooze class like I do. Anyway, back to the Peel... pretty much what you'd expect out of a gay club (from what i've heard anyway), but you know what... not a problem at all. Not that I expected it to be, or that I felt like i'd be intimidated, I just wasn't exactly sure what it would be like (should I be mildly offended I didn't get hit on? Nah). In fact, most of the people there didn't seem (from my very novice point of view) like the myriad jackasses saturating (bad choice of words) the normal pub scene. Plus, I'm sure that if you're gay, it's a much more comfortable place to be in (especially if your musical tastes sway more towards dancing to tech-ish remixes of Man in the Mirror and This is the Land We Live In) - no one there to give you dirty looks if you're with a boyfriend, and (this is not a stereotype) all the Smirnoff Black you can drink. Honestly, when we went up to the bar I had to laugh, because the entire wall was covered with those twist-type malt beverages, I've never seen so many bottled breezers and double black sweet mixed drink products. And most of the guys were drinking them. Saying they're gay drinks is absolutely not offensive, I'm convinced. But the most glaring separation from what I would have expected from "normal" homosexual behavior..... I thought gay dudes could dance well! Maybe it's just here, in the land of the plunging neckline, but nearly everyone there danced no better than if they had spinabifida. Chava was the best dancer there by far (clearly the latin influence), followed closely (but not too closely) by me, of course.
Then we left and I had the best souvlaki (simply referred to as kebab here) I've ever had in my life. Christ it was good. Oh, and we had to deal with Christobalito's incessant whining that he needed to go immediately to a straight bar to balance himself out because he didn't feel right cause a guy pinched him. Sounds like someone's not too comfortable with his sexuality.