Scenes from the last week of June

Bobby and I went to the cider bar on Monday with Tara and Marissa (who hadn't arrived when these photos were taken):



Troy, of Melophobe and TroyHD Photography, captured this moment from before Hunx and His Punx went on last night:



and I ate music for lunch today:

Summer and True Blood BBQ

OMG it's finally summer in Portland! Time to celebrate! I celebrated with a sorry attempt at a cartwheel. I should get an A for effort, because I'm a whole lot more bottom-heavy than the last time I did one of these. Bobby was insisting it was a roundoff and not a cartwheel, and I told him he did not know what he was talking about. Roundoffs go front to back. Cartwheels go side to side. So there. Also I think I should be commended for not breaking my neck.



That was Saturday. By Sunday we were all set for our True Blood barbecue extravaganza. In lieu of last year's vampire cupcakes, I decided to make a variation on this. For those not in the know, the goo in that jar used to be Vampire King of Mississippi Russell Edgington's boyfriend Talbot. So, Bobby and I, sick weirdos that we are, scoured the city for a similar jar. Into that jar I put one bowl of raspberry jell-o (light red) and one bowl of dark cherry jell-o (dark red), and bingo-bango, dead vampire goo. For some reason our party guests had a hard time eating it after watching the Season Three recap. Alas, I did not snap any photos of my brilliant (if slightly macabre) dessert concoction. Suffice it to say, it was gross and delicious in equal measure. Shout-out to Michelle and Brian for letting me steal their idea! You can at least see the top of the punch bowl in this one, but most of the "goo" had been eaten by the time this was taken.



Prior to the show, we had a barbecue featuring various grilled meats and veggies, as well as a build-your-own-sangria bar. The smell of the meats lured the neighbors' cat into our yard, and she quickly took a seat. Sedge fed her chicken, so I suspect she will be meowing at our back door for the rest of eternity. Oh well, she's cute. To the right of the interloper, you'll see me in my Sookie Stackhouse costume, complete with the cup that says "Sookeh," lest anyone drink out of my sangria.



As 9:00 approached, people gathered in the living room. Team Bill sat up front.



The setup was mighty good, despite a minor cable-related setback. The wire kind, not the Kabletown kind (surprisingly).



With moments to go, folks took their places in our makeshift movie theater, and Season 4 of True Blood began.



Personally, I loved the episode and am convinced that it has already redeemed itself after a dismal third season. Though we tried to run the second episode via HBO Go connected to my laptop, we were in the same boat with three million other people and the quality was too poor to continue. Alas, alas, alas. Conor, not ready to go home, suggested we watch an episode of a cartoon or some other fun thing, as it was only 10. Bobby and I have been on a Fraggle Rock kick, so that's what we watched. Not to be outdone, I ran upstairs to get props:



Yup, those are my four original fraggles from circa 1985. Red (my favorite, whom I fed coffee when I was four, permanently staining her mouth), Mokey, Gobo, and Wembley. Not pictured: my two Doozers. Yeah, I am festive whenever possible.

So went my first official summer weekend of 2011. Hope yours was just as good, if not better.

Fun with Pride Weekend

Friday was unexpectedly sunny, so we had an impromptu barbecue at our house! There were burgers, potatoes, and fresh strawberry margaritas (made with my last bottle of mix from Fat Mama's in Natchez).



Tara was first to arrive:



Conor and Jonathan came by on their way out dancing:



Jonathan and I had three high-fives about various things. High-fives not pictured:



We also had a visit from a new guy who just moved here from Florida. He's the curly-haired fellow in the group photo. In all, it was a fine way to spend a Friday evening, plus strawberry-pineapple shortcake in a cactus glass!



For some reason, yesterday was the day to schedule an event. By the time the morning rolled around, I'd been invited to five: a baby shower, a magazine release, a graduation party, a birthday party, and Blow Pony. I was only able to attend the last two, as I have not yet figured out how to clone myself. Plus, with the World Naked Bike Ride going on downtown, getting to the graduation party would have been nearly impossible. Sorry Ed!

We celebrated Ori's birthday at The Observatory, which is in a cute little neighborhood enclave off of 82nd. The food was good, and the service was pretty amazing considering we were a party of 20. Nobody's glass went empty for more than a minute, and the waitress let us do as many separate checks as we wanted. It was pretty amazing. Once that was done, we headed down to Rotture for Blow Pony, where we met back up with Jonathan and Conor, as well as Matt and Ori who had followed us from dinner. This being Pride Weekend, though, the venue was jam-packed. We couldn't get back upstairs after going to the basement, so we went outside to check out the Sprockettes for a while and cool off. Back inside, there were some (not very good) performances, and my feet were too tired to make it until Leslie Hall came on. Defeated, Bobby and I took our old pathetic selves home around 12:15. Remember the World Naked Bike Ride? We encountered a casualty on our way up Holgate. On the corner of 28th stood three naked gentlemen talking on their phones. One was bleeding profusely. The other two were trying to flag down a passing cab. Not a chance, guys. The injury didn't look too serious, so we continued on home.

This morning, fortified by more sleep than our companions (who went to Montage around 3:00 a.m.), Bobby and I hopped the bus for the Pride Parade. I'm ashamed to say the last time I attended was 2003, when I marched with NOW-NYC in the New York Pride Parade. Oh well. The event has forgiven me, and I was pretty excited. The joy in my face is because I just watched the "Drag Race" (a footrace down Burnside featuring runners in drag, about 15 minutes prior to the parade) go by. Not pictured: the Human Rights Campaign t-shirt I bought in San Francisco last summer. It's under my coat. The morning was chilly.



Here are some of my favorite floats/exhibits from the parade:





And of course:



Back home now, I'm enjoying a quiet evening before this week begins. Somewhere between Monday and Friday, I'll be attending a birthday party, a concert, a goth wedding, and a karaoke bachelorette party. Is there any other way to live?

John Waters and the importance of good friends

Massive shout-out to Kelly for sending me this today, thus improving my day significantly:



Apparently I'll be seeing the star of this video on Saturday when I go out dancing. I'm pretty excited. I do love spectacle.

Another massive shout-out, this time for a certain resident of New Jersey, who emailed me with a quote from Empire Records in my time of need. Sometimes the tiniest gesture makes the biggest difference.

This week has been rather taxing, though it was brightened significantly by Jonathan, Conor, and their dog, Taco, who all joined me for lunch in the park yesterday. Once 5:00 hit, Conor came back to accompany me to the local bubble tea provider. Through the power of Twitter, I nabbed one for Marissa as well, and off we went to movie night at the Rocky Dome. After missing several movie nights due to shows, they finally ran my pick: Polyester. I've owned the DVD for quite some time. My mom, who also cuts John Waters articles out of the LA Times and mails them to me, got it for me for Christmas a couple years back. However, I hadn't watched it yet, and Mr. Waters really necessitates a group setting anyway. Verdict: loved it. This should surprise no one.

While we're on the topic of things that cheer me up, I present my favorite scene from my very favorite movie ever. Makes me laugh every time. Yes, I named my cat after Enid. No, I don't care what that says about me. Whatever it is, it's probably true.



Also worthy of commendation is Bobby, who made me dinner and let me have the TV so I could watch America's Next Top Model tonight. These are all good factors in my little life, yes indeedy.

When life gives you boredom...

It was a slow weekend of cleaning the house and engaging in leisurely activities. Saturday night, Bobby and I joined several folks at a rather divey bar on N. Lombard for some karaoke. We pretty much had the run of the place, and I got to do several songs. The ones I did solo were the standard "Seether" and a Dixie Chicks song (don't judge me) that is fairly uncommon in karaoke books. The song was "The Long Way Around." Also did a duet of "Since U Been Gone" with Morgan, and sang "Kids in America" with Morgan and Kelly. Had lots of fun. I do love karaoke and good times with friends.

I spent the later hours of last night waiting for our houseguest to return from her weekend in Seattle and "hug my neck" (oh, Southerners!) before leaving early this morning. I enjoy houseguests quite a bit. In the meantime, I got bored, so I decided to bake. Behold the fruit of my boredom. It's lemon.

Fangirl time

Last night Bobby and I joined Jonathan, Conor, and their friend Brian at a showing of X-Men First Class. Despite being surrounded by boys, I may have been the one who enjoyed it the most. I was quietly squealing at various plot points and generally being a geek. I'm a huge X-Men fan, and have fond memories of seeing X-2 with the rest of the Windham House crew after a long day of moving furniture into our new shared space. In my opinion, X-Men's characters are far superior to the bland christ figure of Superman, who is a terribly one-dimensional character. As I noted in a different format last night, I like my heroes flawed.

Forgive the lousy quality photo of me exiting the theater. Poor lighting combined with a camera phone. Still, you get the idea.



Now to wait for the last Harry Potter movie, which will be the extent of my geekdom (I promise).

The sun is gone again, but the heat remains

It's upwards of 80 degrees in my house at the moment. I've got a sun dress and freshly-painted toenails, as well as a glass of raspberry lemonade. I'm taking a temporary break from my writeup of last night's Architecture in Helsinki show (here's a preview: it was great!) to make a blog post and clear my head. If nothing else, this silly song challenge keeps me from neglecting my readers. Before I get back to it:

Song 09 – a song that you can dance to
Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" has to be it. I'm looking forward to doing so in person this summer!!!



Song 10 – a song that is a guilty pleasure
This song was my jam circa 2004/2005. It was also my ringtone on my sad little Samsung flip phone for years. What can I say, I secretly love pop music.



Song 11 – a song from your favorite band
"Jumpers" by Sleater-Kinney. Excellent for bad days.



Song 12 – a song from a band you hate
I hate Radiohead. I find them overrated and their fans terribly obnoxious. However, as someone who came of age in the 90s, I can't not like "Fake Plastic Trees."



Back to writing about AiH and enjoying my lemonade. Thanks for the distraction, internet.

The sun returns to Portland...

...and I'm in the house blogging about it. I'm waiting for the yard to stop being shaded before I go hang out in the grass for a while. Was up early to have breakfast with Jonathan (at Genie's, of course). Show tonight, seeing X-Men First Class tomorrow. Sunshine in between. In the meantime, here are the next four songs from the song challenge thingy:

Song 05 – a song that reminds you of someone
"Rock Your Body" by Justin Timberlake will always remind me of driving from Lafayette to New Orleans with Weatherly in the summer of 2004. We both clap-clapped at the appropriate time.



Song 06 – a song that reminds you of somewhere
The Arcade Fire's "Sprawl II" makes me think of Palm Springs. Where was this song when I was 18?



Song 07 – a song that reminds you of a certain event
Landslide, because it's the song I was playing when I drove over Highway 17 for the last time, leaving Santa Cruz for Portland. I'm not such a fan of Fleetwood Mac, but this song was the perfect choice.



Song 08 – a song that you know all the words to
Veruca Salt's "Seether" is always my karaoke warmup song, so I definitely know all the words by now.



Off to chase the sun across the yard. Hello Vitamin D!

Songs and things

So there's a 30 day song challenge that's been making the rounds on Facebook. I'm too impatient to bother following the rules, but I've seen it so many times that I feel compelled to participate in it in some form or another. PEER PRESSURE! Instead of posting one song a day, though, I will post several, probably just in conjunction with other posts. Why? Because I like to talk about myself. Isn't narcissism the whole point of blogging, nay, the internet? Read on.

Song one: your favorite song.

My favorite song of all time is Nirvana's "All Apologies." That's been the case since I was approximately 12 years old. Specifically the unplugged version:



Song two: your least favorite song.

Tough call. I have pretty broad taste, but there's plenty of music I can't stand. It's probably something like "Dare" by Gorillaz or "the Funeral" by Band of Horses. I hate hate hate both these bands to pieces. There, I said it.

Song three: a song that makes you happy.

"Down South, 10 Hours, I-5" by All Girl Summer Fun Band. It's about escaping rainy Portland on a road trip to LA. Just try to listen to this song without smiling.



Song four: a song that makes you sad.

Elliott Smith - "Between the Bars." I was going to pick "Fond Farewell," but that song makes me too sad.



That's all for now. We'll see if I make it all the way to 30 or if I get distracted by some shiny object midway through.