Liberation & Pride!

This past weekend ushered in my unemployment and coincided -- not unintentionally -- with Gay Pride in the city. You can see me and my friend Erin at the Pride Parade on Sunday. (You would think we would have both worn something a little more festive than black, but at least Erin had a flag and I was wearing my uber-cute Mudflap Boy t-shirt (http://www.mudflapboys.biz/)).

I was extraordinarily impressed with my stamina -- I stood watching the parade for over 4.5 hours, then barhopped through Chelsea on my way to the Pier Dance, then hiked up to Washington Heights for a nightcap at No Parking. Most of the time I was on my own, but kept running into friends and acquaintainces along the way and had a great time.

Here are some of the highlights of the parade:

Liberation & Pride (continued)!

More pics from the June 25 Pride Parade:
It was nice to see Kevin Aviance up and about after that horrible attack a few weeks ago that left with him a broken jaw and other injuries. Here he is (in the white top hat) with Peppermint.


I thought it was rather intriguing that AG candidate Sean Patrick Maloney's float was filled to the brim with boys, not one of whom appeared to be of legal voting age. They certainly were enthusiastic, however.

This last pic is of the Pier Dance. Unfortunately, I didn't last too long there, so I missed J. Lo's surprise performance.

The Strawberry Moon

A really beautiful full moon rose last night over the east side of Manhattan, and I had fabulous view of it from my living room window. (Native Americans apparently called the full moon in June the "Strawberry Moon" in honor of the coincident strawberry harvest season.) In the picture, you can also see the new Bloomberg building in the lower right; I've decided I really like this new addition to the skyline, especially because of its highly reflective exterior. (It's kinda cool to look out at sunset and see all the flamey red colors of the western sky reflected by the Bloomberg building against the twilighty blue eastern sky.)

I'm in the midst of painting my apartment this weekend so I can get it on the market and hopefully have an open house by the end of the month. I'm really, really going to miss the view from my apartment window. Here's another picture I took from my living room window yesterday afternoon. (I guess the vertical shadow lines are the result of taking a picture through the window screen.)

A Detrimental Journey

"Delicious essence! how refreshing art thou to nature! how strongly are all its powers and all its weaknesses on thy side! how sweetly dost thou mix with the blood, and help it through the most difficult and tortuous passages to the heart!"
-Laurence Sterne, "A Sentimental Journey"

It's my understanding that, by "delicious essence," Sterne was probably referring to "flattery," but isn't it possible that he was actually speaking of a nice Grey Goose l'Orange Cosmopolitan on the rocks?

Some big developments recently! Gave notice at the jobby-job. Putting my apartment on the market. Getting rid of virtually all my worldly possessions. Planning to spend a full year traveling about South America, Australia/New Zealand, and Europe. Essentially venturing forth with no real career plan -- pretty scary!

Concurrent with letting folks know about my "walkabout" plan, I've been promising that they can stay abreast of my adventures via a blog. One colleague essentially called me a raging lameass for titling my blog with my own name. Apparently, the blog should have a catchy title -- something snappy and witty and provocative and whatnot. No pressure, of course.

I was thinking of calling it "A Detrimental Journey," as my own latter-day version of Yorick's bawdy sojourn through France and Italy. The "detrimental," of course, refers to horrendous damage I'm doing to my career. The title seemed even more fitting since, as best as I can recall from reading Sterne's novel in college, the narrator pretty much heads off on an extended trip on a whim, and is far more concerned with the people he encounters abroad than he is with monuments or museums, and he learns quite a bit more about himself in the process. I'm hoping for a similar experience for myself.

My friend Christine just forwarded me a link to a NYTimes article tonight (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/fashion/thursdaystyles/08vaca.html?ex=1150430400&en=e458166522ecdae2&ei=5070&emc=eta1), about how a fair number of Gen X-ers and Y-ers, frustrated by inadequate time off, are simply quitting so as to do something personally enriching, and then looking for another job. The article suggests this is happening because the Gen X-ers and Y-ers don't have the same job loyalty as their parents' generation, and they're optimistic of their ability to secure a new job whenever they're ready to do so.

The article certainly seems applicable to my sitch, though I'm also really looking for something more life-transformative than an extended vacation, and I'm also hoping to come across entirely new and different job opportunities altogether. I'm actually very intrigued to see how it'll all turn out, and hope you might be up for joining me for the ride.

At any rate, I apologize for the heavy-handedness and promise to be a bit more zany and slappy going forward.