PRIDE weekend!

This is the first time in my almost 8 years living in the Bay Area that I celebrated Pride weekend ALL WEEKEND!

SATURDAY

My friends Jim and Kiki live in a great apartment that overlooks the Dyke March's route so they open their doors to us almost every year so we can watch/participate.

The Dyke March is always on "pink saturday" and I had to arrive after working all day. I left work a bit early as this is a super important fun event that happens once a year. It's like a bday party - totally worth clocking out an hour early.
I stopped at home to feed the cat and change and ran up the street to Jim's place with my rainbow body paint kit with 15 minutes to get painted before the Dykes on Bikes went roaring down the street.

That was a great start to the weekend.
[click any photo to see it larger]

During the parade I was busy "participating" and only caught one image.


A little girl walked by with her moms and a poster that said "I <3 my 2 mommies." I was slow on the shutter and thought I missed them.
As you can see, one of her mommies asked her to turn around for me. That just breaks my heart open with joy - I wish this photo could show you how freakin' cute this little girl's face is.

Violet Blue and I met at this very same party five years ago. We call it our anniversary. Here she is in all her hot gangsta glory (wearing Ben's hat).



My 89 (??) year old Grand-Aunt Polly is a Old Lesbian Organized for Change (OLOC) and she and her ladies were posted up in the sweet viewing spot of the corner of 16th/Dolores where they got a fab, ground eye view of the parade. I was too busy introducing her to Kiki and Violet and being introduced to all of Polly's friends that I forgot to get a pic, but one of her friends got a great one with what looked like a really good camera.
I'm really glad I've started spending time with her - she's totally together and fun and has a lot to say and contribute. Her friends were super cute when they found out I am her grand-niece.
Y'all should support all the Old Lesbians in your area - they freakin' rock!

After the parade ended, Violet took Ben and me to "a sekrit party in the armory." The armory is owned by Kink.com (NSFW).
It was my first visit to the giant building that I ride past every morning on my way to work, so I was excited to see the rooms and how they've got everything set up.
There were a few scenes being filmed that night but the crowd, which was pretty non-usual for that space according to Violet, was really lame and took the fun out of watching.

We wandered around with our free drinks and took pics in the different themed rooms, which was super fun.


Violet took this selfie of us and I totally <3 it.


Just about every room had a row of pegs as well as O rings strategically placed in all kinds of places.



Violet got her first Digital SLR photography lesson while I explored a small closet.



Ben and I both got psyched about the light right here and Violet was happy to oblige us with her keen modeling skills.

We decided we'd have more fun eating than sticking around (again, lame "industry" crowd - boo) so we went to Monk's Kettle [Their kitchen is open until 1am, btw...] and all ordered burgers and ginger beer. This was my third or fourth visit and I felt confident highly recommending it to these two who'd wanted to check it but hadn't yet - they were pleased.
2am, time to sleep.

SUNDAY
I woke up around 10 and called the boys to figure out the plan for the day. It was decided that we'd start by meeting at Jim's to watch a bit of US vs Brazil soccer (wow - the first half was awesome. didn't see the second.) and have some champagne and glitter.
Fur removed......glitter and sunscreen applied, we headed over to Zuni's street party to say hi to our bday friend Janice who was pouring drinks for the first time. She made us some mean margaritas, got some glitter (and sunscreen!) applied and we headed down to Civic Center for the after parade party.



We walked into the festivities via the dance music area while they were in the middle of a Michael Jackson tribute set, which made me really happy.


Yay for gay pride & kissing outside!

This beautiful man and his two little girls looked so sweet to me, I had to ask for a photo. He obliged me with such a sweet smile - I was very happy.





This mirror ball man of awesomeness was sitting on the curb, looking a little sad, when we started dancing in front of him. A few minutes later, he perked up and started dancing as well and people started taking photos almost immediately. I could tell he really enjoyed having his photo taken in that fabulous outfit. That made me super happy.



I saw this tattoo from across the dance-street and had to record it, with permission of course. I think it's wonderful and really says a lot, even if I don't believe in God and his/her judgement, per se.

We walked home before the sun went down and I had a long relaxing evening with my man after his return from a weekend riding trip.

Best pride ever thanks to good friends, excellent imbibles and perfect weather in my favorite city.

<3

Rock Steady

Shannon has a little medley he likes to sing every once in a while.
It goes like this:
"Solid. Solid as a rock, steady, steady rockin' all night long."

I can't remember why it came up tonight but we realized it's a medley of two songs from the 80s that use "rock" in the chorus so off to YouTube I went to find them.

First, I found Solid - a fun song and a cute vid. Dude's got some serious style but his stylist on the video shoot should have untucked his jacket...

Then I found the gold: The Whispers: Rock Steady.

If you don't have five minutes to spend with your speakers on, come back when you do. I'll wait.



Okay.


Ready?






I need to make a time stamp list of awesomeness (if you click on the video to go to the youtube page, there should be a comment by addycat777 [aka me] with the time stamps as links if you want to save yourself a little effort - however, not all of these are there and I got the numbers wrong and youtube wouldn't let me edit or repost - argh!):

1. 0:37 - favorite dance move with the appendicular body

2. 0:59 - love the bearded back up singer/dancer (his beard looks glued on)
Watch for more of him cuz his moves are hot. (I'll spare you additional time stamps about him)

3. 1:26 - hey! where did those dancers come from?

4. 1:36 - "doin' the snake. mmm...maybe not..."

5. 1:44 - his "jazz square" pirouette reminds me of my jazz dance class when I was 9. We listened to this song during our warm up, which included jazz squares with our feet and hips.

6. 1:57 - enter freight elevator. that must be on what the crowd comes to populate this underground funk party.

7. 2:31-2:34 - I WILL learn this dance move and show you at the next party.

8. 2:48 - is that a tour jete I see in the background?? Justin did a couple of those for me on my birthday. He's really good at it, very graceful and always has pointed toes (even in cycling shoes!).

9. 3:22 - after more freight elevator and a moment without the crowd, they're in their party suits.

10. 3:32 - dude with the sunglasses and half-fro is really feelin' it

11. 3:55 - can't quite figure out why they went back to the other, "not party" suits...

12. 4:06 - looks like they can't either!

13. 4:33 - I know they used the "not party" suit footage here because of this sick move. it's spontaneous - not to be replicated - magic, caught on film.


This song makes me happy. Although, after trying to get all of those time stamps just right, I need to avoid it for a little while... but this video I could watch without sound, over and over while practicing all of those moves. Soon, I too will be able to dance like Barack Obama.

ALC8 wrap up....finally

AIDS/Lifecycle 8 was a mixed bag for me starting with fundraising finishing with the ride itself.

- I wanted to raise $5k and made it as far as $3600, which is awesome, just not what I was aiming for.

- I had physical challenges that kept me off of the bike for about 160 of 560 miles.
* My handlebars weren't set in their ideal ergonomic state and that made my hands, especially my right one, really painful to ride with (and for some time after).
* The padding in my shorts was irritating my skin in a way that made sitting on the seat something painful enough to draw tears.
* The good news about these issues is that they are totally avoidable in the future and they did not keep me off the bike for any more miles than they did - yay!


Now it's been just over two weeks since we left LA and quads are back to normal, sitting on my bike seat is very comfortable, my hands are pain free, and I'm rested.


Here are my favorite moments in list, and somewhat chronological, form.

Day one

- rest stop one - discovering those wonderful peanut butter and jelly graham cracker sandwiches that I'd had once before when I volunteered for ALC.

- Emily's cookie monster outfit made a lot of people smile.





- climbing the 92, getting to the top and being handed strawberries, and then riding down the beautiful, smooth curve into Half Moon Bay. Here's a fun little map showing when I was most excited.

- this little house in the woods made me really happy. so did all that green.



- Mom, this photo was taken for you. lighthouse in the fog.



Day two (celebrating 32 years of life)

- Emily made a little sign for my butt, Justin gave me a princess pinata that I tied to my do-rag and Shannon took this photo.



- Then, Greg gave me a ride to the SAG bus for the first time "only cuz it's your birthday!". I think it was wind that dissuaded me from continuing - cross winds are a BITCH!
The SAG bus, however, was Divalicious!


see the little TV (click for larger view)? They had The Supremes playing for us - very sweet.

Day three

- my favorite part of the ride was conquering The Quad Buster. Mostly because the downhill after was the most joyful exertion I've had in a long time. I had a few miles of superfast "onyourleft onyourleft" and then on the smooth flat after, from somewhere, I found a sprint and I raced (safely!) past a row of eight riders. Just as I settled in to a nice open road I hear "BOOS! You were riding REALLY FAST!" coming from behind me. Shannon caught up to me after waiting for our friends while I hit the downhill first. that made my day because he's much faster than me.

- entering central california - dry dry dry, but oh so photogenic.



- i broke the rules by taking this while riding but i'm SO pleased with the result (and i didn't get busted, or hurt)



- rest stop "dia de los muertos" where I told everyone in front of the camera to "pretend your dead" before I realized the rest stop theme.



Day four

- this day started out with pain in my hands so great that i was crying by 10 miles. i mistakenly thought that if i waited for the SAG bus at rest stop 1, i'd be driven to lunch to get taped/mended/magically cured and then ride the rest of the way to camp. what i didn't realize is that once on the SAG bus, you're going to camp. so, this was a sad day for me, tho, it was good to rest my hand.

- in that first 10 miles, Josh asked me what my goal for the day was and I laughed as I said, "honestly? to get to rest stop 1." He commended me for my realistic perspective and then congratulated me when we go there.

- i took this from the bus after deciding i wanted a photo of the fog AND a cyclist.



- synchronistically, i spotted Emily in her big bird costume from the bus TWICE, without knowing where on the route she was. that made the bus ride a little bit more bearable.



- once at camp, it was so windy that putting up the tents was a two person job. Silas and his recumbant had made it to camp even before the SAG bus so he helped me put up all three of the remaining tents for our team. that made me feel good. then we took pictures of the people sliding down the oil and water slip and slide that was created on the grassy knoll across the campground.



Day five Red Dress Day
- our gear roadies looked (especially) awesome this day



- favorite portrait



- favorite landscape



Day six Rained Out
Here's the story: This day included a small one lane bridge that the CHP had to close from other traffic so that our 2150 riders could pass safely. They agreed to close it during a specific time window - I believe it was between 9 and 1. The previous night, we slept thru some serious rain and even got rained on at breakfast but by the time we were ready to roll (our group, not the riders waiting to go out right at 6:30 am) the rain was gone and the sun was coming out.
However, this was not the case on the big hill covered in soaking wet riders with flat tires.
Those riders were given two options: turn around and go back to camp or wait here (in the cold and rain) for the SAG bus. Half of the riders went back to camp to wait with the rest of us for three to five hours for a bus ride to Ventura.

- We got in line for the bus about four buses back and I think I heard that it took 20 buses or so to get everyone to the campsite in Ventura, so we were lucky to be in the front. We got to Ventura around 2 or 2:30, laid our soggy clothes out to dry in the warm SoCal sun and I quickly hopped into the ocean.
The warm, salty ocean that I got to swim in for about 30 minutes of heaven before I got hungry for dinner.

- the candlelight vigil on the beach that night was really special. very solemn and so very quiet, except for the sounds of sniffles here and there. seeing this got my tears flowing. I fought with myself about taking a photo and finally decided that i'd appreciate having the image after the fact, and I do.



Day seven
- i finally got to paint a rainbow on my face (while wearing my SF Bike Coalition SF Bike Map Jersey no less!)



- best Jamba Juice stop ever (Greggy got one with peanut butter and banana that will be my next choice, for sure - highly recommended!) This was just a few blocks before closing ceremonies and we got to cheer on the few hundred riders that were behind us (read: not many!).


Shanny, me, Justin, Greg, Silas (Emily had to leave the morning of Day 6 to get back to SF for a family wedding, and somehow I lost Josh just a mile or so before this spot - we missed them both!)

Well folks, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this little recap. I can definitnely see myself doing this ride again someday, perhaps 2011, perhaps even sooner!

To all of my sponsors - thank you so very much for helping to provide education and service to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS as well as help people with HIV/AIDS live happier, healthier lives.

Dream Journal - Entry 02

1.
From someplace extremely high above a city, we jumped. As if skydiving, with thrill and safety.
Sylvia led the way. I screamed in stomach flip-flopping fear/excitement.
It was scary but fun.
A red metal structure made of bars came zooming into view, still very far away from the tops of skyscrapers. I got nervous about landing on it as it seemed a dangerous thing to land upon.
Syl reached out and grabbed the top handle-like bar and the dream changed before we landed.

2.
Searching thru an apartment building that looked like an old hotel and the Paramount in Oakland. I lived on the first floor but wandered around the stairways and elevators for a while, getting confused about apt numbers and floor numbers.
Found apartment.
Long hallway with rooms at the ends and off sides. Living room had a dozen (give or take) black dining chairs, all standing upright, piled all over the room.