Happy pride weekend, and BRAWL

I know I’m behind on the celebratory Pride post – this really is when my city celebrates Pride.  Why it’s not in June, I’m not sure.  Yesterday was the parade and festival, and today is a picnic.  There were some other events throughout last week too, but I wasn’t really in the loop.  Usually we just march in the parade, whether it’s with an actual group, or just kind of infiltrating, doing our own thing.

our vaguely sci-fi influenced outfits

It’s all very serious.

We dressed up in fun outfits, like every year.  I gotta say though, that personally, it’s losing its excitement.  It used to be such a thrill.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m older, or because I’ve done it so many times, but it’s just sort of meh, now.  Nothing lately has felt exciting – maybe that’s part of rebounding from all I went through lately.  I hope the world takes on a shimmer, once in a while, again soon…

This year, my partner’s employer (a food co-op) was in the parade, so we marched with them.  They had 2 banners, some people dressed up in produce costumes, and a couple of shopping carts holding buckets of soapy solution to make giant bubbles with.  And also a dog, riding in a cart.  I handed out coupons for $5 off $25 purchase – we got rid of 600 coupons!

After the parade, we went and ate burritos and then came home to relax.  We watched a documentary on Tig Notaro.

Then we went out to a bar for an event called BRAWL (Broads Regional Arm Wrestling League).  They sporadically hold events at different bars, and it’s always a fund raiser for some organization.  This time it was the gay alliance.  Lady arm wrestlers take on a whole persona and have an entourage go out into the crowd and drum up bets for who will win.  There are two winners – the strongest arm, and the one who raises the most $$.  They had names like Malice in Wonderland and Beth Amphetamine.  It was pretty entertaining.  There was an announcer, referee, and DJ to enhance the hype.

I guess it was cool to see some people while we were marching and to go out to an event.  I haven’t been doing much of that lately.  I asked my partner about it, and she said I haven’t seemed very engaged lately.  I agree with that.  When will that return?  She says I should just keep putting myself out there and going through the motions.  I agree with that too.