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!

Tonight's "Uh, That's What I Meant" Moment

Here's part of the dinner conversation I had with my friend Steve after seeing Jumping Blind at GayFest:

    Me: "That play reminds me of this book I read, Suite Française, ever heard of it?"
    Steve: "Nope."
    "It also takes place during the German occupation of France. It's a great read; funny. And endearing. I really liked it."
    "Really?"
    "Yep. What's also fascinating is that this book was written during that time but only published recently."
    "Oh yea?"
    "Yep. She was killed before she could finish writing her books, but they found them, and her notes too, and published them. She was Jewish and the Germans took her to Alcatraz, and that's where she died."
    "You mean Auschwitz."
    "Uh yea, that's what I meant."

Honest mistake, right?

Did I mention that Steve's Jewish? Hah! I'm such an idiot sometimes.

Successful Weekend Delivery!

This past Sunday I ran GLWD's Race to Deliver. Even though the weather was overcast and cold, and I hate running in the cold, it turned out fabulous! Running with Team Storm, and it being our first anniversary, was truly inspirational. Okay, I'll stop with the Lifetime Original movie moment; after I mention this:

Not only was it my one year anniversary of running, I set a personal best! Four miles in 30:33! That's a 7:38 pace/mile! For those scratching your heads, it's pretty fast.

Later that afternoon, I bought myself a cashmere sweater in magenta (from Uniqlo) as a present for myself.

That night, I took my mom to see Wintuk, as a present to her! Good show. Not great, good; but my opinion might be skewed because I was so tired from the run.

In other news, I finally watched Adam & Steve. Cute movie. Isn't Steve the guy from Caroline in the City?

And while you ponder that, Happy Thanksgiving ya'll!

Fun at Comix

I was invited to go see Lea DeLaria's Big Gay Comedy Show last night at Comix, and it was hilarious!

I mean, I always thought that gay people, and lesbians (lest I be chided by the angry dikes), were funny in general; but the lineup yesterday shot right past funny into ludicrous. And you know it's going to be a good time when someone jokes about going down on Laura Bush... and then enacts it.

"Like a triscuit... crinkle crinkle crinkle!"

Ew.

Great performances throughout, and kudos to plus-sized burlesque star Glenn Marla! And a reality star sighting - Josie from Top Chef Season 2!

Update: Speaking of Josie, I saw this article on how she was the victim of an anti-gay assault in Long Island. Seeing her this past Monday, I'm glad to know she's out and about, looking fabulous.