Protest Against Prop 8, NYC

After I decided to attend the rally last night against the Mormon Church's involvement in the passing of Prop 8, I was questioned why. And to my surprise, even though I felt that Prop 8 was wrong, both civilly and morally, I couldn't readily give a reason why I was deliberately protesting the Mormon church; which boiled down to: I didn't know the facts.

So on the internet, I found out that the Mormon Church had something to do with Prop 8 passing. And given the fact they're a religious institution, I'm sure most others can verbalize in better terms why religious institutions have no right directing public policies.

But the main reason why I protested was because of their hypocrisy: they claim to "promote tolerance" but turn around and vote for intolerance; that's not right. If I a sign, it would read, "Where's the tolerance in Prop 8?"

The turnout was great. And to quote a fellow protester, "Damn, there are too many hot guys here, I can't concentrate!", after he messed up a chant. And now, some memorable chants of the evening:

"Gay, Straight, Black, White, Marriage is a civil right."
"Tax This Church!"
"What do we want? EQUALITY! When do we want it? NOW!"
"A people, UNITED, will never be, DEFEATED!"

Hehe! Okay, that last one wasn't really a chant, I just overheard someone say it, and I can't help but giggle every time I repeat it (because the last part should be 'divided', get it?! eh? eh?!)

Pride Month Remembered

As evident by my lack of posting, I've been pretty busy. With work, events, volunteering, I hardly had time to think. So here's a quick rundown of Pride Month 2008.

June 1, Japan Day
Standing in line for 20 minutes under the summer sun for free fried dumplings. They were pretty good.

Did I mention they were also free?

June 3-6, Birthday Week
My birthday celebration consisted of a four day feast! Each day I was treated to a wonderful meal, from Next Door Nobu, to Le Cirque, to Grand Central Oyster Bar, to my favorite Szechuan restaurant, Szechuan Gourmet in Flushing.

I probably gained in my belly as much as they lost in their wallets. Tee hee.

But seriously, I really loved each and every meal. The friends, the food. But mostly the food. I mean the friends. I mean the froods. Wha?

Which reminds me, I still haven't had an official birthday party yet, so watch out July!

Oh, and somewhere in there I decided it would be a good idea to go to The Web after a year plus hiatus. What a disappointment. Aside from the half-naked go-go boys, of course.

June 14, 18, Central Park Zoo and Ikea
In mid-June, I visited the Central Park Zoo with my sister for the first time ever! Can you believe they keep two polar bears in that zoo? And out in the open air on a hot and humid day! Don't they have some sort of sub-zero temperature room or something?

Afterwards, we stopped by an event put on by Adventures NYC in Central Park and saw some awesome trampolining.

Mid-June also saw the opening of Ikea Brooklyn. I saw it opening weekend. Take the Water Taxi, it's awesome, fast, and free. Yay!

June 22nd, Celebrating Pride; with Nakedness
For some reason, I decided to agree to my friend's crazy idea of celebrating Pride by having the most expensive lunch known to man - eating at Per Se. Ironic that this friend is still not out to his family? Hm. No judgment.

The brunch itself was flawless, from the food to the service. Thank goodness I took some pictures, because it will be a long time before I get over the shock of the cost and think about returning.

Later that day, I partook in a yearly ritual I like to call Folsom Street East. This year, I went with this man. His first time! I know! I was shocked, too! So shocked I had to take the ball-gag from my mouth so my jaw could drop. Kidding.

Nothing out of the ordinary; just some half-naked people in leather bondage performing fellatio on each other.

That night I continued on the theme of half-nakedness; I went to Broadway Bares 18! The show as good, not great. But the best part (aside from introducing my friend to some culture) was I got to see Step It Up and Dance reality TV stars Mochi and Jerry Mitchell! I even got to tip some dollars in Jerry's undies! Yay!

June 30, PRIDE
The day after a horrendous Pride Run race result, I soothed my wounded pride by marching in the Pride parade with HOP! It was my first time in the parade and aside from small hiccups (the flash tsunami at 2:30pm) it was a total success!

It even earned me a lone ticket to the Pier Dance. Going by myself confirmed the suspicion I had: it's just not nearly as much fun if you go by yourself. But I did see Wilson Cruz, so I suppose it wasn't a total loss.

That's it! And I'm spent! Whew!

Happy Pride!

Happy Pride everyone!

That's me walking in the Pride Parade with GMHC and Heritage of Pride. It was a great experience, spreading the spirit of Pride by making people scream at the top of their lungs. I hope you also had the chance to spread yourself in your own special way. Tee hee.

Riddle Time!

What's white, red, frizzy, and found canoodling and sweatin' to the oldies at Penn Station?

Yes! Richard Simmons! And yes, it was completely surreal!

Happy Birthday Everyone!

Today is 人日. That's the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, when everyone turns a year older. So Happy Birthday to you!

In following my 'I don't buy into Valentine's Day' tradition, I'm going to tell you about my day at Jury duty instead.

It was boring. And to my surprise, the clerk has to be one of the nicest person in the world! I thought all city employees were jaded.

No offense.

In actuality, the whole jury duty experience was even bearable - quite a change since I last participated. They now have Wi-Fi access! But being able to bring my laptop wasn't the best part of the day; they let us go early!

Worst part? Getting up before 9am has made me susceptible to the flu. Ugh. Nyquil, here I come!

Can You Tell How Excited I Am?

It's the day before the seventh, and final, Harry Potter book comes out. Obviously, there are tons of events happening around the city. To me, this is absolutely insane. When was the last time you heard of a bookstore open at midnight? Oh right, when the last book came out.

It's crazy! Of course, being a Harry Potter fan myself, I'll be attending some of those events. Wand making, potion making, live owls! It'll take all my self-control not to knock those little brats over to get to the front, but I think I can do it. No promises on the squealing though.

Steam Explosion Rocks NYC

Taken en route to dinner at a nearby restaurant.

More on this here.