a summary of last Sunday

[floatingleaf]

OK, time for part two of the long overdue update from last week. Namely, the annual Chicago Gay Pride Parade. Sunday the 25th. I admit I probably wouldn't have remembered about it this time if a friend hadn't brought it to my attention... but she had, and we spent a good few hours enjoying the madness.:) It was very crowded - despite the heavy rain in the morning that almost made us wonder if the parade was going to take place at all. But the weather got really nice just before it was due to start; slightly overcast, but with a wonderful cool breeze relieving the humidity, and even occasional glimpses of sun. So it wasn't as exhausting as last year. We missed a good part at the beginning, though - the parade was in full swing when we got there (heavy traffic, crowded buses, looooong lines to use the bathroom in every fastfood place etc.). So my friend was hugely disappointed that she didn't get to see the Dykes on Bikes.;) Still, there were plenty other attractions.:D I wish I had made notes of some of the funniest signs and t-shirt slogans... as it is, I only remember a few. Like the big-breasted, very feminine woman whose t-shirt said: "This is what a feminist looks like" (high points for fighting the stereotypes... lol). Or the girl with the lovely, tight curls on her head, carrying a sign of "My uncle is as straight as my hair". Not to even mention the outrageous boys in various states of undress, representing all kinds of businesses, communities and organizations imaginable. It wasn't my first time at the parade (third, in fact) - but I still find it hard to believe sometimes that such an event is at all possible. Especially the sight of policemen on horses adorned with rainbow flags seemed so... unearthly, somehow. I guess that's because it would be rather unthinkable where I come from... but that's a whole another story, and I have no time to further digress at the moment.

So... after the parade was over, we went for a lovely Chinese dinner, followed by a visit to the only exclusively lesbian bar in Chicago - the Stargaze. Where I somehow got tricked into consuming two White Russians.;) I mean, I would probably be just fine after one - but my friend bought me another without asking my opinion, and, well... I was already drunk enough not to care.;P So I really went into a phase, so to speak (I had always been a lightweight - like our dear Orlando, LOL - but recently I just don't drink at all anymore, so every tiny amount of alcohol makes a distinct impression...:D). I even danced (again, something I just don't do anymore, somehow). We didn't stay long, though - my friend wasn't feeling too well (she's taking medication, and mixing it with alcohol gave her a vicious headache). So we took a taxi back to her apartment, where I had left my car, and I just crashed on her living room sofa for a bit, to sober up before driving back home. But because I was 1)heavily drunk (which always makes me open up and indiscriminately spill everything that's currently on my mind), 2)stretched out on the sofa, and my friend was in the mood to play a shrink, it somehow ended up as an amateur psychotherapy session. With me sobbing helplessly over how pathetic I am, and my friend (who has been through ten times worse shit in her life than I) rocking me in her arms for comfort. I still blush when I think about it... LOL. I bet she never wanted to hear some of the things she did then.;P But in a way, it was her own fault - I TOLD her one drink was perfectly enough for me...:D