A Gay Day

Nothing much happened yesterday morning; the day really started around midday when Alex B arrived for lunch. We headed out to a Tex-Mex restaurant called 'The Blue Goose' which provided tasty fare that kept me going for the afternoon. It was good to see Alex again; he is engaging company and we haven't kept up with each other very much since Montreal, so we had plenty to talk about. When we first met, he was living in Kansas City but has since moved to Dallas, bought himself a condo and joined up with the local gay rugby team and gym.
After lunch he showed us his apartment and then we headed back to Brett's parents where we chatted for another half-hour or so until Kevin & Chris arrived. As Alex headed off home, Kevin & Chris exchanged Carter for us and we set off for an afternoon shopping in one of the malls on the way back to their house.
Brett was the one who nominally wanted to go shopping (although I think Kevin was after some new trainers too) but in the end it was me who spent the money first; I wandered into a branch of Banana Republic and found some nice long-sleeved t-shirts and a sweater. (Luckily the nearby Abercrombie & Fitch didn't have anything that caught my eye or it could have been an expensive afternoon.) As we explored the mall further though we came across a Watch Station. Brett has been after a new watch for a while and so, it seems, has Kevin; they both picked up new Swiss Army watches, while Chris and I looked on. (Actually looking-on rapidly lost its appeal and I ended up showing Chris how to use predictive text input on his phone while we waited for the brothers...) From there we went for a drink at one of the refreshment spots; smoothies all round - and an extra large one for me, as it gave me a chance to win a video iPod (the latest object of desire) for my beloved. The draw is made on New Year's day so if he hasn't got over the compulsion to purchase by then, there will still be time to get one before we return to the higher prices of home. (Assuming my luck doesn't come through for me in the draw.)
Back at the house Brett found a comic book (I think it may be the latest episode in one of the series he reads) and so dived straight into that while Kevin read the paper, so Chris and I hung out in the kitchen with a beer chatting about life (and comparing notes on Kevin & Brett.) Of-course once they realised that we were gossiping away, so began a series of 'drive-bys' by one or other of them to see what we were up to. I think I might suggest we form the Gay Brothers' Husbands Club or something along those lines, just to wind them up some more. (Mwuhahahaha!! Foolish mortals!)
As dinner time came around we drove over to a nearby(ish) seafood restaurant for dinner. We shared some deep-fried alligator bits and a very tasty meat-and-rice sausage for starter. (I've never had alligator before and found it pleasant enough - and not really like chicken as Chris had earlier led me to believe.) I had a seared tuna steak for my main which was mouthwateringly delicious - previously when I've had tuna steaks back home (actually, thinking about it, it may just be in Spain) they've been too thin and over-cooked and tasted like cardboard. This one was about the same size as you'd expect a beef-steak to be and cooked in much the same way. Delicious! I still ended up leaving about a third of it though - plus most of the garlic mash - before I burst a gut. Skipped dessert again...
Conversation was varied; encompassing travel-talk, family and life in general. It did veer onto sex earlier than I had expected, but I was pleased to see that Brett has at least as frank a relationship with his brother as I do with Rosie about such matters.
After dinner we drove on to Dallas' gay district and checked out a couple of bars. It being Tuesday none of them were particularly buzzing but that was fine as we weren't really looking to party. The second one we came to, JR's, had a top floor open to the street along one side so we bought beers and watched the world go by for a bit, enjoying the mild weather. I recalled Brett mentioning the bar when we were in DC last year at a bar with the same name, but in the end we still couldn't decide if the two places were related or not.
After a couple of beers we went on to a third bar, but it turned out to be closed (despite the tantalising advertising over the door promising us 'Boys on Boxes - Tonight!') so we headed home where Chris insisted on baking cookies (at 11:30pm, huh?!) while we drank tea and watched a couple of episodes of Family Guy. By midnight though, Brett was dozing-off, so we called it a night.
I am getting a bit worried about him though; he's been fighting a head-cold for a quite a while now. Longer than I was, I think - and mine lingered for longer than I thought was normal. He's certainly been needing a lot more sleep than I have lately. Kevin was giving him some grief about his diet this afternoon and I do sometimes think it isn't entirely balanced. I think there may be more than one New Year's resolution in our house next week.