  The urlLink chorus retreat is over, and it's good to be home. But we had a great time. The urlLink Lake Lawn Resort where we stayed is exactly as you'd picture a Wisconsin lake resort with a cemetery-like name: It's decorated in a charming '60s knotty-pine aesthetic, the cabins and meeting rooms sport ambitious trailer park names like Geneva and Woodlawn, there are multiple gifte shoppes stocked with scented candles and charming kountry krafts, and the whole ambiance is enhanced with a pervasive essence of mildew.
But the chorus got a lot done (the retreat is really just an excuse to rehearse for an entire weekend with none of the obligations of home to distract us), and we turned a major corner in the process of mastering what is proving to be a supremely challenging program of music. We had a couple hours of down time on Saturday, and I got in a four-mile run along the lake. And let me tell you, running along a stagnant lake in the middle of the wilderness has its own challenges.
Like dragonflies. And rotting fish whiff. And goose poop. But weaving among the mounds of fresh goose doots kept my mind occupied and made the miles just whiz by. We also took over the lodge's karaoke bar both nights, transforming the evenings for the other guests from the endless horrors of suburban music to a snappy showcase of great songs and gay sensibilities.
I think we genuinely scared the other men who were staying there, but their wives loved us and we were GOLDEN everywhere they saw us. I got home this afternoon, cleaned up and met Red Shirt at the Andersonville street fair. We cruised among the tchkotchke tents, scoped guys, talked to friends, ate Mediterranean shish kebabs in our laps on benches by the porta-potties and eventually ended up entwined on my couch watching the Six Feet Under season premiere.
So I chalk up Date Two as another smashing success. Date Three is scheduled for Wednesday. And then our prospects dry up; his and my various travel commitments mean we won't be able to see each other until about June 28. Which really necessitates one of these little jobbies: :-( But the fact that we're so casually talking about scheduling time together over the next month tells me that we both like each other. We really LIKE each other. Which to me means I also get to use one of these things in my blog: :-) 
