MIR19: Destination Rubber

So, here's my third attempt at writing this bloody blog post....a tad annoying to say that I've added this content for a third time, but here goes.

I arrived in Chicago Thursday Nov 5 afternoon. After taking the L to Lakeview I finally got to Junya's place around dinnertime. After a few drinks and some catch-up conversation, we decided to head to the MIR Welcome events at Big Chicks and Touché.  We ran into a host of old rubberfriends at both events and ended up closing the evening at the Jackhammer drag show.

Not surprisingly, Fist City Beer is from Chicago...

Friday morning came early as I headed to the Center on Halsted to set up the Rubbout 25 booth prior to the Orientation session for MIR19 Contestants and Judges. When I got back to the Market just before 2pm when the Contestant number pull for order in the competition, the play area and retailers were already busy.

Matt, Pup Maphia and adorable cameraman

After an hour or so in the Market, spying out the things I was going to buy this weekend(!), I slipped back to J's place for a nap prior to getting ready for the Cocktail hour prior to Friday night's portion of the Contest (Rubber Image and Rubber Fantasy).

The Judges got 'wrangled' prior to the contest starting at 9pm in order for formal presentation on stage. Our wrangler was handsome Michael K.

The contest was fun, Teri Yaki did a good job MCing, and the contestants showed how each of them would make for a great titleholder. I had had some thoughts as to how the rankings would end up, however, things changed on Saturday.

After the contest on Friday a bunch of us headed back up to Jackhammer/The Hole for the Recon Full Fetish Party. It was reasonably attended; numbers seemed down from previous years, supposedly due to the $20 entry fee. When I left around 2:30, the entire place was pretty quiet, however I heard later that (not surprisingly) things got busier again around 3-3:30, and the last of the fuckers downstairs didn't vacate the premises until 6 am.

As it turned out, we had to be at the Center again at 11am to review our contestant dossiers prior to interviews starting at noon.

The contestants all did very well in their interviews; I was pretty impressed. I think some of the rankings in the minds of the judges shifted during these couple hours of inquisition. Some were nervous, some were confident, some were much better communicators, some had extremely deep experience in the kink community, and some were much more community leaders than others.
I went back to the Market after interviews, and bought a few things: Electraloops, Plunger Pete, and an Square Peg Slink! *pants* lots of Pjur Male lube, some more electro cords and adaptors, and a Cellblock 13 wrestling suit.

Yes!!! I went back to J's for a quick nap, and then to slip into my new Invincible sports catsuit. Ready for Saturday night! I got to the Cocktail hour and schmoozed a bit, then the group of contestant and judges were taken away for official photographs.

The final parts of the contest: Question and Mystery Bag were underway. Once again, there was lots of entertainment and fun, however things ran long and Mister International Rubber wasn't announced until around 11:45.

At any rate, we had fun during the contest, the intermissions and afterwards. Congratulations to 2nd runner up Tom Verdonck (Amsterdam), 1st runner up Feral Jack (Montreal), and our new Mr. International Rubber Gummibarchen (Chicago)! It was a great celebratory night for Chicago - Mr. Midwest Rubber has not won the MIR title (without controversy!) since 2003, when Rubberwilli won. Congratulations Jeffrey!!!

Adan from RMSF and I. Thanks for the pics, Daniel!

So, the post-contest celebration was at Cell Block and then Steamworks. I was happy just socializing at the bar (I do that well), and decided to skip the Steamworks party since it was already late and I was so tired. So we just went back to J's place and crashed.

Michael, Michael, and Junya

Antoine and Paul

Paul, Grant and I hamming it up outside Cellblock

Early morning again on Sunday. I was at the Market at noon to spend the afternoon giving out information packs (promo cards, posters, t-shirts) to everyone I could find and the organizers around the continent that could take some of our promo stuff back to their respective cities/zones/bars/neighborhoods/what-have-you. Things moved pretty quickly; there was a Rubber Organizer's Meeting hosted by Tim of Chicago Rubbermen at 3pm for an hour. I found it pretty informative and gave me some good ideas in regards to some tips on how to get the word out about a new group; particularly the Vancouver Rubbermen group I would like to incubate. I think Seattle (Rainy City Rubbermen) and we here in Vancouver are having the same challenges starting off a fledging kink group and with the help of more established groups like Rubbermen of San Francisco, I am optimistic that we can pull something off. I've been talking to a few local guys and gathering thoughts on how best to approach this, particularly important this year in Vancouver given the excitement generated around Rubbout 25.

So anyways, I packed up the booth at 5pm with the help of P & J, hauled stuff back to J's, then got cleaned up to head downtown to celebrate our friend Jeff's bday at NoMi in the Park Hyatt. It was probably the fanciest place I've ever dined! It was pretty amazing. We had a nightcap at Jeff's room and then we all headed back to Lakeview. Unfortunately we missed Showtunes at Sidetrack, however J and I each called up a sexy guy to come over and play with us at J's place. It was a short session but it was pretty fun!

Monday J and I got up, met (the third) Michael for brunch at Ann Sather, then J and I went over to J & T's place for some day drinking and movie watching. They went for dinner while I slipped over to Lthboy313's place for our 'annual' fuck. Since last year, he has gained a sling and frame and some new toys, so I had a lot of fun abusing him in the sling and the bed. I wore him out, then headed back to Lakeview to meet J and friends at a pub for a couple, then J and I went to Charlie's for Drag Queen bingo, where I won two baskets of booze and somd DVDs. Needless to say some of the booze stayed in Chicago and some came back to Vancouver with me.

Tuesday J and I got up and went for brunch. He had to work at 3 so I went for one last shopping trip to Sports Authority where I found an Asics reflective tank top and base layer leggings for $60CAD....pics of those to come, the leggings are pretty hot! I headed to ORD around 4:30 and caught my flight home at 7:30.

I got to Vancouver around 11 then spent the next three hours unpacking rubber, cleaning and packing Xmas gifts and Mr. P's accessories. We were up again at 6am to head to YVR to catch our flight to Calgary for family Christmas. No hanky panky in Alberta: we visited with quite a few friends on Wednesday, spent the night at Nuck Pack's house (hi boys!) and headed to Red Deer on Thursday, spending the remainder of the week with my parents, brother, sis-in-law and nieces. Good times, good times.

Here it is, the following Wednesday and I am just starting to feel human again. Too many nights on futons and air mattresses will do that to this old carcass I suppose. Anyways, a delightful 10 days off overall, and happily complete for another year.