Pride 2005

Pictured here is a young man under the tender-loving care of Daddy Howard, whose sign proclaims him the "Best Damned Spanker in the World". I took this picture at the Civic Center in downtown San Francisco during the second day of Pride 2005. Please note the following:

• The bruise on the guy's butt; this was taken at least 10-15 minutes into the spanking session
• The leather strap resting on the backs of his thighs
• The looks of pure glee on the faces of the two onlookers

Yeah, so pride was a lot of fun. Unlike anything I've ever witnessed. And of course, it wasn't all as debaucherous as the spanking booth; I would hate to pigeonhole the celebration with this one photo. It's just the best photo I took.

On Saturday of Pride, I went to the Civic Center by myself for a short while and saw a beautiful rendition of "Get Me To the Church On Time" from My Fair Lady, sung by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. The soloist in the song was dressed in a suit and top hat, and did a really bad imitation of a Cockney accent. But his voice was great. It took me back to my earlier youth, when I was in a musical review of My Fair Lady, but the chorus wasn't gay, it was Methodist.

There was, unfortunately, a healthy serving of corporate lameness to the Pride Celebration, as with all things these days I guess. There was a Scion parked in the middle of the celebration with a sign that read something like "The Official Car of Pride 2005". There was a huge Pepsi truck in the main parade. Crap like that.

But then again, as with all things these days I guess, to find the really cool stuff, you have to look somewhere other than the main event. And where was the coolest stuff going on? The Dyke March!

Man, the Dyke March was badass. Well, not so much the March, I actually missed that, but the celebration of the March, at Dolores Park. I have never seen so many lesbians in one place in my life, which was cool, but not as cool as the band that was playing there. They were 3 rocking women, 2 with huge afros. The bass player was really tall and lanky, and she made the bass look small. I would say that the music they played was kind of cock rock, but that label doesn't seem to apply very well, given the occasion. So yeah, the band was cool...

... but not as cool as the mud pit! Up the hill from where the band played was a big mud pit, on a decline. It was being used as a big, dirty slip'n'slide by a good group of people, mostly female, many of whom were not fully-clothed, a couple of whom were not clothed at all. And yes, frown upon me, I thought it was very cool...

... but not as cool as the fistfight that broke out! A bunch of muddy girls, some of whom were not fully-clothed, but all of whom were at least somewhat clothed, broke out into a rowdy fistfight, for reasons unknown. And yes, frown upon me, I thought it was cool. Somehow one girl in a wheelchair was even involved, and she got thrown out of her wheelchair, and someone got thrown over her wheelchair. I saw her returned to her wheelchair looking ok.

Now it seems I'm talking less about the coolness of pride and more about the coolness of nudity and violence. Where was I?

So yeah, Pride was cool. I was happy to be able to witness it and even more happy that it exists in the first place. It just got me to thinking about the crap that lots of people have gone through in the past for being queer, and the crap they still go through, including the fact that for some stupid reason they still can't legally get married... and it just made me happy that there was a good, solid chunk of time and space dedicated to the celebration of the LGBT (LBGT? LGTB? I can never remember) communities, even if that chunk of time and space includes people like me who get distracted from the main point of it all by girls in fistfights.

Fashion Design

I'm taking a course in the Fashion Design department at California College of the Arts, where I work. The course is called "Basic Garment Construction". Class is from 5pm to 10pm Mondays and Wednesdays for 2 months, ending at the beginning of August. The class consists of brief demos of different applications of stitches and constructions, followed by hours of sewing. So far I've made pockets, zippers, waistbands, hand-stitches and more. I'm getting to the point where I could make clothes from scratch. Previously, I had never used a sewing machine. Now, I'm not too shabby. But, it's pretty intense to work a full day at the office and then top it off with 5 hours of applied coursework.

Pictured here is the room in which I take the class.

Next week I have to construct a skirt. Who wants to be my model?

Quote

John Lennon is quoted as having said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Doesn't that imply that you should be busy making other plans in order for life to happen to you? I know that it doesn't logically necessitate it, but unless you want the statement to water down to just "Life is what happens to you," then it seems like he thinks we should all be busy making other plans. The quote came to mind because I was thinking about making plans when I was walking home tonight. I was making plans to make plans. And then, when I got home, I put some plans down on my iCal. Now I feel very accomplished and like my life is really in order. It took a little soul-searching and number-crunching, but everything's set now. Life: happen.

FM Visuals, Duuuuuude...

Click here for something geeky I did awhile back.

Haircut

I needed a haircut, bad. So, after my sweet staff lunch cruise (pictures on flickr) last Thursday, I decided it was time. And, I decided to do it myself. Once that decision was made, everything fell into place out of practicality. I would have preferred more of a scissor cut, but I figured that attempting to scissor cut the back of my head would be disastrous. So, that meant clippers... so I just figured I'd give myself a buzz cut, 7/8 inch. I also thought, "well, if I'm gonna buzz it, then I should do a faux-hawk on the way". So, I started with the sides. But, once the sides were short I was thinking, "hm... this kinda works... maybe if I just kind of fade the sides into the top and leave some length up there, it'll be good." So, that's pretty much what I did. I've gotten nothing but good feedback, save one girl who said I looked "cuter with shaggy hair" and another girl who told me the sides definitely needed a trim. Luckily, my friend gave me a side-trim at a bbq this afternoon. So now I'm set. People at work were amazed that I did it myself. According to my boss: "I would never even try to give myself a haircut." Come on people, it's only hair!

Dream Description

Last night I had a dream that I went with some people to a party at a house on top of a hill in San Francisco. The hill was like two exponential curves butting up against each other. Like what you'd see if you plugged abs(1/x) into your graphing calculator. Like a half-pipe cut in half along its low point and then the two halves are rearranged so that the ends are next to each other. It was a steep hill. I don't remember how we got to the top of the hill, but I remember that once I was near the top, I had to grab onto something at the top and pull myself up. I remember having that cold feeling in my nether regions that I get when death seems imminent (rare, but it's happened).

So, we went into the house. I was sitting on the counter in the kitchen for a long time because I was under the impression that the floor was a steep curve, like the hill. After a bit of talking to someone who was standing on the floor, I realized that it wasn't a steep curve. I walked over to the table and there were cookies on a plate. I couldn't see how people could eat cookies in a house in such a scary spot. Someone told me that after our meal (of cookies? I dunno), everyone was going to go running down the hill. I thought "no way". Then I woke up.

Notes on my Texas Trip soon!