NOH8eration

On June 10 I marched in my first gay pride parade! And it won't be the last time.

Last year I watched from the sidelines as nearly the entire population of West Hollywood marched by in the longest parade ever. It was almost comical how ridiculously long it was. But this year, I immediately accepted an open call to march with the NOH8 campaign.

And even though we had to wait so long to begin marching due to the huge amount of groups going down the route, it was all worth it in the end.

I was under the impression that no one was into the parade, but to see so many faces and kids, it was amazing. We chanted down Santa Monica Blvd. for equal rights and proclaiming "no hate."

We even encountered a church of 3 people holding signs condemning our "sinful" behavior. I hope they know that that shrimp cocktail in their mouths is "sinful" just the same.

I had been of the opinion that the gay pride parade doesn't mean what it uses to. In the past it was a celebration of who we are; a place where we could be ourselves out in public with others like us and just have fun. But matching passed the protestors, it reminds me of how important it is to march. It is a big party. But it's also a statement that we must continue to make.

After the parade, I hung out at the bars by myself for the first time. And I met a ton of people. Fear conquered. Of course it helps that Pride brings out a different friendlier crowd than the usual WeHo scene.

Well I can't wait till the next one. I love a parade!

A New New York

Well it sure felt like summertime, but the wind wasn't quite blowing outside in lower Chelsea, but I did know what I was doing in that city..

DRINKING MY ASS OFF!

But enough quoting an old old old Third Eye Blind song; let's jump back to the beginning.

A trip to New York was needed for one real thing: Newsies on Broadway!

Yes the theater queen in me NEEDED to see Newsies on stage at ANY COST because, well, I had been dreaming about Newsies on stage for 10 years! And yes, even though Carrying the Banner and Santa Fe weren't staged like I had done in my living room, I was okay with it. But more on that later.

Newsies was originally set to play only 101 performances, so I targeted an end of May/beginning of June visit. But once I realized Peytan's birthday party was going to be Memorial Day weekend, my timeframe was set in stone.

And then there's Andrija who had settled into his Chelsea, NY home and was waiting for visitors.

So I bought tickets for a week long visit. And wouldn't you know it? My neighbor Jose had also planned to visit during Memorial Day weekend.

Boom. I flew out on the same day as Ellvin, Grace, and Peytan (who were in town for Krystine's wedding and Peytan's West Coast Eric Carle themed first birthday party) and stayed with them on Long Island for a couple of days.

Then I ventured into the city to meet up with Jose where we barhopped like mad. We must have hit up 4 or 5 bars just Wednesday night. And we also went and saw a live taping of the show Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen. The guests were Dan Rather and John Mayer. It was so much fun and I was so drunk. But I was told that I was on my best behavior.

The next day was a total recovery day. Jose and I watched Battleship (which sucked) and I watched Ghost: The Musical that evening. The show had some truly amazing special effects! Sam became transparent and passed through a solid door right before my eyes! But besides the special effects, the show was not very good. The songs were generic and the set/background consisted of a giant LED screen that showed random crap during all times. It was distracting and completely ugly.

And then we saw Newsies a few days later. After losing the lottery, we went to inquire about full priced seats and were told that there were only two tickets left for $137 each.. killer seats. We snatched them up and I'm so glad we did because the show was amazing! It was everything I hoped it would be! 

On the last night in the city, we went barhopping again and I met someone. A guidoesque man who I found really attractive. And so we locked lips and talked that evening. When the night was over, he told me he lived in Jersey! I was ready to go home with the guy and he lived in Jersey! At that moment I could see the Jersey Shore in him. And even better, he had two kids! I don't even want to know..

The trip ended with Peytan's East Coast birthday party! She was so cute and happy!

Sorry for the rushed ending. I'm so tired of telling this story!