One week ago, after the Qwest session, Xeni and I retreated back to our hotel. She'd arranged for more than a few bright lights to join us, and two of my friends dropped by as well. Leigh I've known since I was quite small, and now she's a dancer with a self-written physical comedy show in mid-town. I was sad to miss that. Ayla hangs from wires, also a dancer, I missed her show too! Humph - too short notice.

Xeni's excellent photographer friend Siege took a picture holding my camera at his crotch and asked Ayla, myself and Leigh to react accordingly. The blow up of this picture is my desktop - it amuses me greatly!

Ayla, Xeni, myself and Leigh posed again for Siege, mid-orgy.

Left to right, top row first: Choire (Gawker), Justin, Heather, Peter (Gizmodo), Mar, Siege, KT, Xeni, Brian Battjer (Nawdy)
. Front left: Leigh and Ayla.

This is Souris's idea - when you're visiting somewhere, with not too much time, host a party for your remote friends. This time, I was fortunate to meet Xeni's remote friends. My idea was to invite everyone up to my room, with a few bottles of alcohol purchased at a nearby bodega. But the CCTV cameras in the elevator intimidated me. And the "living room" lobby at the W was nice enough. Actually, living and socializing in this hotel reminded me of Dreiser's American Tragedy - there's a rich economy of human affection trafficked in hotels. Ours was mostly benevolent and media rich.