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So I’ve joined NetFlix and have become addicted. (even though somebody broke The Seventh Seal, haha. it was the seventh angel, i tell you!)
Saturday I spent most of the day at Pride in a booth for Growing American Youth, a social and support group for GLBTQA youth. Must have handed out about three or four hundred magnets, and I think I’m reciting the stock explanation in my sleep.
The G.A.Y. booth was right next to the Showtime booth. I got to see the fundamental difference between the gay male and lesbian reactions to the stuff they had laid out:
*Gay men say “Oooh, tiaras! I want the one that says ‘Luscious’! Oh yeah, they’re starting a show about lesbians; I’m going to have to watch it.”
*Lesbians say either “Oh, that Brian is SUCH A WHORE” or “I sure hope Ted and Emmett work out together”, then invariably follow it up with a mocking “Hey, honey, want a tiara that says ‘Ladylike’? Haha!”
While I was there I ran into 2 boys I’d like to get to know better. The first, whom I’ll call RCB (for “Resurfaced Crush Boy”), I know pretty well already as a friend. As you may be able to guess, I had a crush on him, then he vanished for a while, and now he’s back. The second, whom I’ll call Flag Boy (read on for an explanation), I made eye contact with several times as he made the loop; it turns out I’m friends with his roommate (whose comics everybody should read and enjoy).
But it’s tough to go flirt with boys when you’re passing out magnets and info for 6 hours, so that evening I took my leave of the booth and went home (it was only a block). Took a quick little disco nap, ate a little, and cleaned up to go out.
RCB had told me he’d be at Attitudes, a local lesbian bar, that evening. (Well, not entirely lesbian. Most of the clientele are, but they always have a sizable gay-male and straight crowd. It’s a friendly, laid-back sort of place, with an 18+ door policy on Saturday nights.) I took the hint and showed up. Nothing prepared me for the line, though – apparently word has gotten out about the place, because even at Pride I wouldn’t have expected a 25-minute wait to get in. The line wasn’t bad, though; I was next to a gaggle of gayboys and we reviewed all the youngsters. (It was mostly along the lines of “Teach him grooming and get him in the weight room and he’ll be hot”.)
Once I got inside I sort of reverted to my usual club-self – wandering, quiet, and reserved, with a deathgrip on my drink. That isn’t usually very conducive to meeting the hotties, and it wasn’t that night. I saw RCB but could only muster a quick little “Hi” before introversion took over. But then his roommate accosted me and passed along their phone number… so we’ll see about that one.
Sunday, I took R* to the parade and festival. He had just done a 25-mile bike ride for diabetes research so he was a little tired, so I dragged his ass all over the park! HA!
First, though, we hit the parade. It was pretty hot out there already, especially in the direct sunlight on the pavement with little wind, but still the drag queens marched on in their 4-inch stiletto heels and still they looked fabulous. Damn, you HAVE to respect that. I gave R* the play-by-play (“Here we have HRC, a national GLBT rights advocacy group, and whoa! there goes their balloon logo!”). He seems to think I should do commentary on the radio for next year’s parade… hmm, it’s an idea…
The first group we saw in the parade was Band Together, a gay concert band. (how cool is that?) They were playing “You’re a Grand Old Flag” as a particularly fabú drag queen waved a rainbow flag and as Flag Boy marched in the color guard (hence the pseud). I was very impressed with how they sounded – for a bunch of amateurs, meeting only once a week, they were damned good. Coulda worked on their alignment, though. *cough*
The ACLU had people dressed up as Supreme Court justices carrying signs that read “YOUR LOVE IS NO LONGER A CRIME”, and everybody went fucking nuts as they marched past.
A group of gay physicians had the best chants – “Two! Four! Six! Eight! Let us check your prostate!” and “We’re here! We’re queer! Have you had a Pap smear?”
The local Quaker meeting had a small but feisty contingent – every so often they’d run in a big circle as if they were holding a large balloon. (Unfortunately I can’t find a decent link for them – anybody want to help?)
And PFLAG got the biggest cheer of all, naturally.
After the parade we hit the festival proper. Mostly we wandered the park, checking out boys, but occasionally we’d stop at a booth and get some info, or talk to someone one or both of us know. That only lasted a couple hours before we headed back to my nearby air-conditioned apartment for some food, drink, and relief from the heat. We had a nice little moment holding our bare feet near the AC vent while eating pizza and watching Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai for about an hour before heading back to the festival. He met up with a boy he’d been seeing, though, so after they got going I hung around for a bit and then left.
Dinner at the parents’ house, as is usual for a Sunday night, then home to finish the movie. It’s a terrific film, and I think it’s going to make my Required Viewing list. (partly because Kyuzo is a fucking BADASS.) Putzed around on the computer for a bit, then bed.
More later – time to wrap up work now.
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