hmmm, where should we go? "boystown"? sounds perfect.

i've known that the Gay Games were coming to chicago for a long time. i think there were some banners up around boytown when we moved into the neighborhood almost two years ago. so it's been in the works for awhile, and i hadn't given it much thought until the media hype started to build last week. but even then, it was more like, "all right, another gay-themed thingee in chicago that will probably result in busy boystown bars. got it."

then, on friday night, i was heading home from seeing a sky game with roni, cinnamon, brandy, and i was walking down halsted street around 10:30. as i approached a certain block, i saw a gathering of people outside a little place called minibar. now, minibar has never had a line. ever. so i'm thinking, whoa, seriously? a line at minibar, that's crazy. then as i walked past, i realized it was not a line for minibar (which was nevertheless packed), but the end of the line for sidetrack, the huge gay bar half a block farther down the street. this was a line half a city block long, and we're not talking a single-file line either - this was gay men two and three across.

thus i had an inkling of how big this thing was actually going to be.

yesterday, at the gym, i had a chance to take in this Gay Games deluge from the elliptical machine's prime people-watching spot in the front window. walking up and down broadway, the gays were out in force. big gays, little gays, tall gays, short gays, boy gays, girl gays, old gays, young gays - a veritable gayapalooza. now of course, pride could be considered the ultimate gayapalooza, but this was different in that it was just like a normal saturday - no parades, no city-sponsored events, no huge parties - just a regular neighborhood that today happened to be almost entirely populated by gay people.

of course, a neighborhood populated by gay people is going to have some unusual sights. for instance, as i worked out, three guys sashayed past the gym (seriously, sashayed. there's no other way to describe it). they were dressed in black sneakers, white knee high socks, tight black old-school gym shorts, and tight white sleeveless t-shirts with "CHEER" emblazoned across the front. all three were carrying metallic purple pom-poms, and i believe one of them had jackie o sunglasses on.

ladies and gentlemen, the gay invasion is here. it's going to be a fun week.