I'm not someone who is very comfortable in big crowds...I get awkwardly shy, so back home I wasn't jumping to attend things like Pride. But here, I figured why not. Of course my roomie wanted to go, and I was interested in seeing how they celebrated it here. I even bought my shirt about a week before...I was all ready! Those who know me know I've been an Ally for sometime... I think I have more gay and lesbian friends than straight friends by now. I like to joke that I have a sign on my forehead that says, if your a gay man you must love me!
The weekend started on May 31st, with my roomie volunteering for the Rainbow Film Festival. I thought it was an awesome chance for her to meet some people, maybe make some friends. And I attended the opening night showing. The film I saw was Cloudburst, about two older women who had been in love for something like 30 years. One had been blind for several years. Her granddaughter still didn't know that the woman her grandmother had been living with nearly all her life was her partner. After the granddaughter puts her in a home, the two lovers break out and go on a road trip to Canada to officially marry. It was hilarious, and then so sad it brought a tear to my eye. It was preceded by a short film entitled Lunchtime...which was also awesome.
The next night wasn't really part of Pride per se...but we ended up at Manifest, a bar in Chinatown that has become our new spot since Apartment 3 closed. This was our first night here. Great DJ's, cute bartenders, and an awesome spot complete with exposed brick walls and art...what's not to love. And we got pinchos on the walk home! Meat on a stick...gotta love it! This place will be mentioned often. This particular night my roomie got so drunk she nearly stole one of those orange cones on the walk home, did cartwheels and ended up scraping her arm, and tried to ride the bike rack that's in the shape of a bike. An all around good time!
Saturday was Pride. There was two separate celebrations this year, misunderstandings or disagreements between people caused it to be split up. I think it would've been much better all together...after all that's kind of the point. But we visited both spots. We got some goodies at the first...new bracelets, food etc. But we noticed pretty quickly that it was more for older people, and families. The second spot was just up the street from our apartment, and it was definitely for a younger crowd. We saw our favorite bartender from the gay bar we love here. We also met the owner of Ono Pops, Josh. Ono pops are the best pops ever!!!! And we met his new sous chef Steve, who actually moved here about two weeks after us! We've actually been here longer than someone, yay! We also got food here, did I mention we love food? I got Puerto Rican food...which made me very happy. Not to mention the man working this spot was Puerto Rican himself, decked out in full Puerto Rico memorabilia, and he gave me a little education on Puerto Ricans and the Hawaiian islands. Good food, + some knowledge = happy Jackie. After talking to people, eating, listening to the band, eating, listening to the not so good singer, eating, and walking around a bunch, my roomie was sufficiently happy and we headed home. An all around good weekend! Enjoy our awesome shirts! |
| new bracelet |
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| us and Josh |
And the adventure continues...
Stay tuned...
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