America's Finest City!

So my first thought on walking out of San Diego airport was: I look odd all muffled-and-bundled up in my winter gear, while everyone around me is traipsing around without a coat or a care in the world. My second thought: so this is what Santa gives me for being good all year - a long weekend in sunny California! :)





So even though my friend Lo-retta (as my giggly friend in Cleveland will henceforth be known as, and if you watch Family Guy, you'll know where I'm coming from!) wasn't able to make it on the trip, practically everyone else of my academic discipline did! This was the most anticipated conference of the year, and a whole bunch of us nerds from everywhere in the US descended upon San Diego - "America's Finest City" - to question, analyze, problematize, showcase and many-other-things-besides our field! We had a lovely hotel downtown, bang across the gorgeous harbor, regular parties hosted by various universities practically every night, and some very touristy places to hop around-and-over.









(Like Balboa Park, which is supposed to be SD's version of central perk, oops, park - and its strange but surprisingly engaging row of miniature globes - all except the blue one which had bras etched on it for some weird reason: as every gay boy knows, bras are just plain eewwwww!)

The gaslamp quarter was amazingly alive with life - too bad I didn't take my camera along with me the times I went there for dinner, but it was a treat. Sunny sidewalk cafes for lunch during the day, and some great clubs and bars to visit once the sun went down. A colleague and I headed over to Croce's Jazz Bar, and though I was supposed to hook up with a cute gay professor for clubbing at Hillcrest afterwards, I decided to cancel that and stayed on for the jazz!



Hillcrest wasn't cancelled for too long, though. The next day, I was chatting online with another gay academic from my conference, and we decided to have a great night out. So, yes, there was good music, great drinks, fantastically nerdy conversations (for a gay bar!) and some jaw-tiring kissing. :) I've promised to stay in touch with my Californian gay academic, even though I'm half way across the world simply cuz we had such a great time talking and dancing. (OK, the kissing played a part in the decision, too!)

The best part about San Diego though wasn't really Hillcrest - personally, I much prefer Chicago's Boystown in terms of ambience - but rather the fabulous ocean. Frankly, the land-locked Midwest doesn't have a patch on a beautiful, sparkling ocean, and that's where my homesickness for Bombay kicks in again...!







And though I spent some time walking along the harbor, I know there's much, much more to do/see here... San Diego deserves another trip - and this time, I know I have kiss-worthy friends, too! *grin*