Friday evening I spent with M&S, and baby O. O is sick right now, but not so sick that you can't make here feel better by distracting her. She seems to hate me. M&S told me not to take it personaly. Except for S, there are very few men in O's life. When she runs into a strange man, she is very weary.

After dinner with M&S, I went downtown to my old haunt, the Black Eagle. It hasn't changed since I left Toronto. I was talking to one of the bartenders about it and he mentioned that yes, the Eagle, and gay Toronto in particular, has held it's breath for the past 5 years. Everything has aged a bit, but that's it.

Several guys bought me beers. It's good to know I'm still desired. I ended up running into an old drinking buddy. We closed the Eagle. It's not so bad for me. Seattle is three hours off of Toronto and I've been keeping Seattle time. So, when the bars closed at 2am, it only felt like 11pm.

Saturday I had lunch with BP. BP told me his .com tale of woe. He was briefly a multi-millionare. Then the company stocked plunged by $90.00 a share.

Saturday evening, I took it easy with J&E. We had dinner and then watched TV.

Sunday, I had lunch with Lliam. He's over the flu now. We walked down Young street and marveled at all the new construction that's on hold. Work has paused on two new sky-scrapers. Between September 11 and the recession, there isn't the same demand for office space as there was a year ago

Sunday evening, J&E threw a "Wecome Barry back to Toronto" party. I saw many people I haven't seen in a long time. It struck me how different my Toronto friends are from my Seattle friends. My Seattle friends are more out there-- more colourful. They talk about weird porn and sex. They swear. They dye their hair. They rent their homes and have lots of credit card debt. My Toronto friends are very conservative-- even my gay friends. They own houses and have babies. They have stable well paying careers. They are becomming part of the old-boys (and girls) network. It's a very different feel.

Tonight at the party some of the girls talked about their "Craft Horror Stories." In 1993, J started to knit two sweaters. Last year, she gave up on knitting them, and gave them to N to finish. N is trying to do so, but because the original wool was bought in 1993, she's having problems finding enough matching wool to complete the project.

Three and a half years ago, F started a needle point picture which was to be a house warming gift for her parents new condo. The parents have now lived in the condo for a year and a half.

We also talked about how to manage living with your parents over Christmas. I have it easy. I only see my parents once or twice a year for a few days at a time. We don't really get on each others nerves. Not so with many of my Toronto friends. They get all stressed and weirded out talking about their parents.