the Weekend Recap

Friday

• in case you didn't read the Twitter post, my brain is fine. the tumor/cyst/shadow is still gone; this time i was assured by the PA* that if all is still clear next year, then i'll never have to go back. ever.



• i switched from my loathsome Verizon cell service to AT&T; it took a few hours, but i'm already glad i did. my new phone is smaller and much cuter than my last one (shown right, in red; mine is blue).



• we had our straight newlywed neighbors over for dinner: Spanish chicken and rice with chorizo and homemade sangria, followed by drunken chit chat and Wii bowling; i also had made a Tres Leches cake, but was shocked and appalled to learn that it had to sit overnight in the fridge. luckily they brought cheesecake. a good time was had by all (thanks, mostly, to the second pitcher of double strength sangria).

Saturday

• the usual saturday laziness was interrupted by shopping...Target, Stop N Shop & Costco...for the essentials. honestly, i wanted nothing more than to sit out and soak up the sun but there wasn't any time...very irritating.



• brought the Tres Leches cake to mom's for dessert. we each had one piece and then chucked it in the trash. not because it wasn't tasty...cuz it was (albeit ridiculously sweet)...but because i didn't want to bring it home and mom's going to be in the hospital all week**, so it would just be sitting in the fridge for no reason.

Sunday

• woke up early and hit the ferry; i hate to admit it out loud but i was almost sad that there were no bible beating christian wackos hurling invectives at those enroute to Pride; they were such a fixture in the last couple of years that they seemed like part of the parade itself. on the flip side, there must've been a Yankee game, because the ferry terminal was divided like a grammar school dance: jersey clad straight people and their kids on one side, Pride revelers on the other. actually it was like the last scene of The Birdcage...


• we got to 6th and 54th at the appointed time and looked around for anyone holding a sign, baloon or wearing a shirt with my company's logo. fifteen minutes later we found the small, but well represented group. everyone was really nice and very friendly; we all stood around talking and just hanging out for the next two and a half hours, in the gloriously hot sun, sandwiched in between Continental Airlines and Delta...and no i do not work in the airline industry; somehow that's just where they put us bankers.


• it really was a beautiful day, sunny and hot, with a sweet breeze carrying the scent of hotdogs, suntan lotion, hairspray and makeup; that is until we started marching along fifth avenue and the entire sky opened up on us for an hour. seriously, i've never been that wet, while fully clothed. my clothes were heavy with rain; i couldn't see out of my glasses, i feared for my cellphone which sat in a puddle, at the bottom of my pocket. i was so wet, that i didn't even care that it was still raining. the sky cleared for about 45 minutes and we were almost dry, at least from the waists up (have you ever tried to dry denim in the sun? it takes weeks) and then the rains came again, this time not abating for hours. we finished the parade downtown, hopped off the aptly named float, and headed back to the ferry.


• we had agreed to meet up with a friend of mine at the parade, but i was too wet and uncomfortable to stick around in the city. we met up with him and his new boyfriend at a chinese restaurant on Staten Island after drying off and showering and drying off again. dinner is post all on it's own, so stay tuned.

all in all, marching in the parade was great and we will definitely do it again next year; it was an amazing feeling to march down fifth avenue being cheered on by a crowd. the only drawback, if you can call it that, was that we didn't see the rest of the parade. my legs hurt, from walking from 54th down to Gay street (which is where we gave in and hopped on the float), but it's a good kinda hurt. we really had a great time despite the weather's best efforts. in truth, nobody seemed to actually mind the rain. next year i'm bringing an umbrella or maybe a poncho, possibly an inflatable raft...

* i can't tell you how much it pisses me off that despite my appointment being a year old, and then switched because the doctor couldn't make the one i originally had, he still flaked on me and stuck me with a PA; rude thy name is MD.

** mom's back in the hospital to repair the damage done by Mother's Day fiasco. in short they're repairing a hernia she got when i was born, which she had repaired 3 years ago (incorrectly) which caused a second hernia and the corresponding blockages this past May.