We were so ready for GALA we would have gone via a slow boat to China.

As always prior to a vacation I can never quite get enough sleep. I'm always super anxious. I'm anxious about all the potential screw-ups that could take place; and I'm anxious about all the great experiences that are yet to come.

Security was a breeze at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL). I'm so used to getting wanded by security and thoroughly examined, just short of an anal probe that I was amazed. After we all emerge through security Skip says he is hungry. We all decide we could do with a bite especially considering we have a couple of hours before departure. Skip and David lead the way to a food court and the rest of us follow. At the food court I have a banana nut muffin and a bottled water. The burgers and pizza beckon. I resist knowing full well a skimpy bathing suit is going to leave no room for sloppiness on my part.

A bit later on as we are eating, Josh, Stephen P. and Jeff A all arrive at the food court. We are so used to hanging out together and not needing to be concerned about others overhearing our conversations. Our conversation at the airport food court was rather racy with inappropriate language. I was a main offender. We kept on forgetting that there are children around, never mind other adults who wouldn't care to hear the carrying on of 9 gay men. We kept on having to look over our shoulder to check for children.

As I said earlier, members of PGMC are a chatty bunch. A healthy bantering went back and forth over two tables. It's easy not to pay attention to all 8 other guys. Miguel had been eating with Skip, David, Mike and me. After he was done eating he wandered over and started to talk to the others. He left his belongings at our table. Among those belongings was his mobile phone that he abandoned. David quickly stole Miguel's phone and attempts to send a text message to some guy in San Diego. In a nutshell, the message informs the recipient that Miguel has herpes and he should get himself tested. Too bad Miguel discovers the plot and recovers his phone before David is able to push the "send" button.

There were almost 20 PGMC members on this flight. Terry and Albert traveled to the airport together. Thank goodness Albert made the flight in time.

My carry-on bag was a tight squeeze into the overhead compartment. I had to remove some crap from the bag and carry items in my pockets. I didn't even have the bag in expanded form.

The previous day I had text messaged a bunch of the guys with my boarding pass information. It was my subtle way of saying “don't forget to print your boarding pass!”. Miguel was in Group B, while the rest were in Group A. I promised Miguel I would save him a seat. In my row were Terry, Miguel, and myself. Directly opposite Miguel was Albert. Miguel decided he would try to read to pass the time. It was some “bear” magazine. Ooooo! What a shocker! Although I must say I did enjoy his sharing the pictures in the magazine with me. After some time, Albert, Terry, and Miguel started to play cards using jelly babies as poker chips. They started with 21, graduated to 5 card draw, and ended with Texas hold 'em. I was dealer while the others played. Terry was the first to drop out. He took over duties as dealer, since I was all the way over at the window. Albert won with a pair of queens - how fitting! Albert swindled all the gummy bears off us said, Terry. “yeah, he taught us how to play the game and then winds up with all the gummy bears,” replied Miguel.

I would never have known that Miguel had problems with anxiety due to flying. He seemed perfectly normal. Then, his behavior started to change. He had taken some medication to calm himself down. It made him sleepy and dopey. His eyes would move in opposite directions when he tried to talk. He was definitely getting quite sedated. I was half amused, half concerned. I was concerned because I have never seen him that stupid before. We experienced some minor turbulence and this caused him a bit of grief. He really tried to focus on relaxation and induce sleep.

Eventually, the plane lands and we disembark. The chorus had arranged for a shuttle to meet us. The driver was very personable and friendly. He and I talked since John, Peter, and I were the only ones out of everybody who didn't check their bags.

Miguel said Terry's shoulder does not make the best pillow

In my van were Dan, Mike L., Steve R., Bob E., John L., Stephen P., Jeff A., Miguel, and myself. That poor driver! Can you imagine how loud we were? Tons of loud laughing. I don't remember what the heck we were talking about, but I do remember we were laughing most of the 40 some minutes it took to get us from Fort Lauderdale to Miami.

Once I arrived at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay hotel, I found out that Steve D. had already checked into the room. He was on his way to Fort Lauderdale to pick up friends and bring them back. I explore the room for a brief nano-second. As I take a few snapshots from my balcony, I hear my name being called. I look around, my head bobbing this way and that. Lo and behold! It is Ray out on his balcony several floors below me and to the left. I love singing next to Ray. He is so much fun and has a great voice. I had just enough time to drop off my bags and leave my fairy godfather gifts to my roomies.

It was only a week or so that it was arranged that I would be sharing my room with Steve D. and Josh D. It was rather fortuitous because due to life's circumstances I had to use all of the savings that I had built up to spend in Miami. Their addition to the room helped my financial situation. They would only be staying 4 nights. For each I left on their pillow a greeting card to cheer them up and excite them about the upcoming time we would be spending together.

Adrienne and I knew we would be sharing a room for months. Back when I was flusher with moolah I had made purchases to create a "Welcome to Miami" gift bag for her. First, I picked up a pair of Ralph Lauren sunglasses that I thought would look good on her. As I said in the note I enclosed in her card, "the ability to accessorize is that which separates us from the animals" (Yes, I do believe I stole that from Steel Magnolias. It's still good material). Even if she brought a pair of sunglasses, a back-up pair is always helpful. I purchased a guidebook of Miami. It was DK Eyewitness Travel's "Top 10: Miami & the Keys". We wouldn't have time for an in depth exploration of Miami, so this was perfect for a survey of the land. I had picked up some skin care products at the Benefit counter at Macy's. While I was there they gave me some free swag. I included the free Benefit cosmetics into her welcome bag. All of this I wrapped up in a kitchy small handbag with matching tissue paper. I figured the handbag was more fun than your traditional gift bag. Plus, I got it at the dollar store. How great is that!?!

I was in my room for only a few minutes and my phone was ringing. It was time to go register myself as a delegate. Off to the Hilton I go! It's shortly after 6 pm and hardly anyone is in the ballroom to register. A whole group of us all line up and we're greeted by Ken S., PGMC volunteer extraordinaire! He is volunteering for GALA and checks us in. Isn't that sweet? Another volunteer helps him orient us to all of the vital goodies that we receive. Basically there are three big items that we received. First, our name tag which acts as our admission to all events for the festival. It is basically a lanyard with a mini bag that can hold small items with our name and chorus affiliation attached. Second, we get our festival bible which lists every event, every performance, every workshop, every delegate, you name it, it's in there. It's quite thick as you can imagine. Third, we received a song book. This is the first year that GALA is trying this. During down time at performances we are all supposed to open up our song books and sing together. Also in our gift bag are other assorted goodies.

My intention was to do three things when I first got to Miami. After checking into my room I was going to register for GALA. Then, I was going to go to a CVS to get some personal hygiene products like shaving cream and hair product. After CVS I was going to visit a liquor store. Adrienne had given me cash to purchase some white wine. Once liquor store duties were done I was going to go to the supermarket and pick up some food supplies. That was all well and good, but then GALA had arranged for cocktails to be offered in the same room that you picked up your credentials. I ended up putting a higher premium on socializing than shopping. Did I even peruse the Expo? No, I was downing my apple martini. It was the oddest packaged cocktail I've ever seen. It was cocktails for the masses. They were prepackaged. These big plastic martini glasses had a foil covering on the top and then a plastic dome was attached over the cup and foil. The vodka they used was definitely not top shelf. However, it was incredibly strong. I loved the strength, but was concerned about the damage being done to my liver by the less-than-Belvedere like quality of vodka being used. I'm not sure if I have a lining to my stomach anymore.

While enjoying my cocktail I ran into Howard, Chris A., Avery, Paul F., the Davids, and Thomas C.! It was really great seeing Thomas again. He had moved out to California back in March. We all tasted what we each had purchased. There was a red cosmo, beer, bottled water, wine. The bulk of us either had the apple martini or the cosmopolitan. PGMC has a preponderance of men who enjoy liquor.

As I wander back to my room to drop off all that stuff I had accumulated I ran into Albert and some other folk. It's here that I am given some other delegates crap to store in my room. Since it is now rather late, my mission is to purchase wine for Adrienne. I find out that there is alcohol that is sold in a shop in the Grand Shops between the Marriott and the Doubletree. Once at the liquor section of Le Faubourg, I discover that I am being gouged. I thought it was more important that Adrienne find wine than not. So I only buy two bottles of white wine.

I run all this stuff back to my hotel room. Right after dropping my stuff in the room, Steve D. arrives with his Fort Lauderdale entourage. We have a quick hello. Steve thanks me for the greeting card on his pillow. They start to make plans to reunite for the evening. I head down to the lobby of the hotel to hang out and see who I will run into.

In the lobby I chat with Chris A. and I tag along with his crew who are heading out to South Beach. One of the guys from the Marriott hear us making plans and offers to take us to South Beach in a hotel van for $5/person. YAY! I can afford that! Something like 15 of us cram into this van.

Lincoln Road Mall is quintessential Miami. It's what I always imagined Miami must be like. They must have filmed numerous films and tv shows at this location for me to get that impression. It's a lively pedestrian area lined with palm trees and fountains. It goes on for several blocks with store after store of upscale boutique shops.

"Chorus Boys Gone Wild!" begins as we hunt for food and beverages along Lincoln Road. Joining me in the search are Chris A., John L., Avery, Thomas, Howard, Steve D., Terry, Ed, Dan, Mike L., Shua, and assorted others. Much alcohol has done its damage and if you were there and I've forgotten you - too bad. One would think considering what alcoholics we are that we would have gotten on the booze train first. But no, we actually try to find food.

We score! Pizza Rustica was just what the doctor ordered. It was reasonably priced tasty food. I highly recommend this eatery. I ordered a chicken parmesan pizza and shared a four cheese pizza with John. They were soooo yummy. Each pizza was about the amount of 2-1/2 slices of pizza and was priced at $4.95. The pizzeria is a tiny place with limited seating. On this warm evening we found seating outside and chowed down like there was no tomorrow. I found it funny how everyone saw my camera and got paranoid that I would take unflattering pictures. I'm a big believer in do unto others as you would do unto you. I didn't take any with people inhaling the pizza like the Hoover vacuum cleaners that they were. Oh hell, that we were (I was inhaling as quickly as anyone there).

Score! That's the name of the club we went to - Score. It's right on Lincoln Road. It's early on a Friday night. We basically take over the club. It's quite enjoyable with a feel that is reminiscent of Bump or Therapy. We begin to feel the pain that is the price of cocktails in Miami. We in Philadelphia are spoiled. With each progressive month the glassware seems to get smaller and smaller in Philadelphia. Thank goodness it still it isn't as expensive as NYC or Miami.

We want to explore. Off to Laundry Bar! But where is Laundry Bar? No one is quite sure. We take a wrong turn. We walk, and walk, and walk. The crowd is not happy and gets cranky. Chris thinks he knows the way, but he doesn't. We ask a local and he gives us bad directions. Finally, we end up stumbling upon it.

Laundry Bar actually has coin operated washers and dryers. I could have done laundry as I have a beverage. The sticker shock of my vodka cocktail at Score teaches me that I need to modify my drinking behavior. I decide beer is always cheaper than liquor. I live in the Land of Lager. Yuengling lager is always inexpensive in Philadelphia and that's commonly what I order. Like a reflex I order it at Laundry Bar and it is $2 more expensive than at home! Ugh! Once again, it is early and it's basically us and a few locals.

Halo is our next port of call. I went to Halo in DC and had a good time there. This one had a different feel to it. Well, did I expect a cookie cutter image? Miami is different from DC, isn't it? There was a minor bizarre incident at Halo. I found bench seating that seemed rather cushion-y. I was wrong. You go to sit down and it's like sitting on a piece of plywood. It was rather a shock. I loved the looks on people's faces as they discovered there is absolutely no give in this seating. I don't even know if they used batting between the wood and the fabric. I think Chris almost bruised his rear when he tried to sit down. While painful for him, it was amusing for me.

All night long I had been mixing and mingling, but at Halo I spent most of my time with Terry. Terry is usually good company. Tonight is no exception. Eventually, I have had enough and decide to go back to the hotel. We have a music rehearsal and a tech rehearsal the next day. I didn't want to overdo it. When I tell Chris that I'm leaving, I distinctly remember him being shocked and trying to insist I stay. Reports say it was a late evening for the guy. I have no doubt he had fun meeting and greeting locals. John, Terry and I share a cab back to the hotel. The cab fares are one of the few reasonably priced items in Miami.

In front:  The Davids, G + A;  In back:  Terry, Chad and Mark V.

John headed back to his room. Terry was famished. I agreed to walk over to the Checkers and keep him company as he waited for his food. It's Checkers, a fast food burger joint across the street from the Hilton. I figured we'll be there all of 10 minutes. Wrong! The staff completely ignored all the people lined up at the walk up window and only serviced their drive thru. When I say ignore - I mean it. It was 45 minutes before Terry even got to place his order. He felt like he had no choice since it was after midnight. What else was open for business? As we are waiting we see in the distance Patrick and Paul T. arrive at the Hilton from the airport. Patrick booked a room at the Hilton since he could use his Hilton points. Eventually, I can't take waiting anymore. I decided to head back to my room. It was another 15 minutes later before Terry saw his crappy burger and fries. It took over an hour for him to get his food!

I believe I was the last to arrive in the room. Everyone else was in bed. I slipped in and was soon asleep.

Day One was very indicative of my entire stay. I gave up on my plans to socialize with others. It's all about priorities.