I hate surprises. Sort of. Frequently. But once in a while, they're fun. I can kind of feel for Jeph, hating them as well. Nonetheless, we undertook to surprise him for his 38th birthday today, and succeeded wildly.Conrad and I flew to Cleveland yesterday morning and were met by Jeph's friend Jay at the airport. The three of us had lunch at Great Lakes Brewing before heading to the hotel to check in. We were to meet up somehow with Jeph there, though we weren't sure how the surprise would work. Would we knock on his room door? Would we meet in the lobby? What?
As it happened, Brett and Jeph were in the lobby some time later when Jay and I came back from an errand in the neighbourhood (Conrad was taking a nap upstairs). Because of where they stood and the placement of a pillar, they only saw Jay at first. I waited a moment then came into view, telling Brett the room was under my name. Jeph did a wonderful double take. EXACTLY the desired reaction. I think he was a little stunned through much of the weekend because of all the deviousness that went on, but truly, it was funny. He suspected something - apparently he noticed some missing toiletries at home - but he had no idea that his BF had arranged a room, a dinner reservation with friends, packed a bag and hid it in the car. Nicely done there, Mr. Pietrasz!
We (Conrad, Jeph, Brett, Jay, Dave, Larry, and I) had dinner at a Brazilian grill place (Braza Grill). Huge salad bar, a waiter whose accent made some menu items sound endearingly off-kiter (sheee-ken, sheees-cake, va-neeeee-la). Goodness, but we ate a lot of meat. Lamb, pork, ham, chicken, turkey, beef of various cuts, sausages. Dessert was rich as well, and not all of us could handle the shot of sweet almond liqueuer they closed with. I admit, my digestive system has launched a protest tha continues at this time. Veggies for me tomorrow.
(Brett and Jeph)
(Dave and Jay)
(Jay and Randy)
(Conrad and me)
(Brett and Jeph)
(Me, Brett, and Jeph)
(Voguing, apparently)
(Brett and Jeph)We then went to two bars, stopping back at the hotel in between them to change. It was a big deal for me and Conrad - we can't recall when last we went to a gay bar in Chicago. The NBF and his friends are bad influences, I guess.
(Ahhhh, true love)
(And more true love)
(My own cutie)
(Brett, Jeph, Dave, Jay, Conrad)So it was a late night for us - 1:30 almost by the time I got into bed. The result was a late morning: 9:29 was what the clock read when I awoke with a start. We hustled to get ready and be downstairs in time to meet Jeph, Brett, Jay, and Dave for brunch. The rest of our time in Cleveland invovled poking in a few stores, coffee in the Lakewood neighbourhood, and general gabbery and driving about.
(Brett and Jay)
(Camera fun)
(Dave)
(More true love?)
(Conrad and me)
(Me, Brett, Jeph, Dave)A few reactions to this weekend:
Nervous as I was to meet everyone, by the end of our time there, I was very glad to have made the trip and put real people to the names in Jeph's e-mails.
Cleveland has some fine and beautiful buildings, many of them in a state of neglect or disuse. Interesting city. I'd be curious to see it at a warmer time of year and when there's life downtown.
(View from our hotel room)Jeph's BF, the object of my not-at-all secret crushing, is considerably more adorable in real life than in photo. Darn him. Even Conrad concedes that Brett is a cutie (Conrad's word). I fear that Brett will have a swollen head as a result of all this praise and attention
And finally: Jeph is a really cool and nice guy, and I hope we'll see him (and Brett, of course) in Chicago at some point this year as well.
Happy birthday my friend. What will we do to surprise you next year? Or shall we lay off until the big one in 2009?
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