From: June / With: PRIDE

Here is some inventory of all of the wonderful, not gloomy events June had to offer:

• First and foremost, celebrating Father’s Day with this guy.

Happy Father’s Day!

• I love Flag Day.  Well, if I had to explain myself (which I don’t), I would say because it’s the Vanessa Carlton of holidays. It’s still famous, but you know, you might just forget about it until someone reminds you it exists #StayHumble
• My un-furr-gettable box of furry tails and ears came out.
• Colleen (hi, Colleen) delivered some crazy insane news that I’m so excited about and I love her (love you, Colleen)!
• Getting pineapple panang curry at the dream flat whenever we had a hankering for it (we now keep some pineapples at our house to avoid the upcharge).
• For the second time ever, I got to see a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retriever.  #hisnameisJack
• Got my shiitake (mushrooms) off Amazon and started growing them inside.
• An almost-gloomy failed trip to Kentucky, which turned into non-gloomy workout at a new YMCA in West Virginia.
• Kristin’s pool party where we had so much fun we never made it to the pool. I’m tellin’ you, if you actually get into the pool at a pool party, you’re not doing it right.
• Separated my notebook from my to-do list. Real game-changer, guys.
• Enjoyed some cool watermelon mules (is there anything more summer than this?)
• Scooter rides with Spencer.
• Got lei’d at the Hawaiian theme day at work.
• Got to drive Krupa’s Tesla (um, what?). The whole time, I sang, “I’m alive, I’m alive, I’m ALIVE!”
• Emily and I went bouldering and mastered a V1 (see footnote if you want to know what that means, but it’s really not necessary… so don’t… )
• Impromptu hangout sesh with Sarah where we talked about how people love saying they hate math but are afraid to say they hate reading. Math=cats; reading=dogs. She’s trying to encourage people to say “I don’t like reading” more…I’m in total support. Can we make t-shirts?
• Bella and I got to play doubles tennis with the Emilies. It was so much fun, and Bel and I laughed so hard that we actually needed to remind each other how to play. Our conversations mostly went something like: “So, when I hit this, I’m going to run forward, and you’re going to run backwards.” Great game plan: just learn how to play your position. For dessert, we got snow cones, which was also an un-gloomy bonus.

One of the best parts of June was getting to hang out with my friends and enjoy silly moments together. For example, a caterpillar fell from a tree and landed on Emily. She overreacted (I mean…really overreacted), and then Helen overreacted to Emily’s overreaction (her overreaction included drool). Helen admitted that she thought we were under attack, and she lost all her control over her motor skills. I couldn’t help but think that would be a hilarious trait for a character to have in a post apocalyptic movie.

Went out for Laura’s Birthday!

Another stand out was going to get hookah with Emily. The hours were wrong online (gonna write a bad yelp review for the misleading yelp reviews), so we waited a while for the place to actually open, BUT I think we can all safely say that a rose-flavored hookah is well worth the wait.

Pink straws for a rose hookah.

And now for the food portion of the blog (because didn’t we all know that was coming anyway?). June was greeeeeat for my food finds. For example, I found this incredible crepe place in Pittsburgh. Had no idea it was there, but fate brought us together, and I’m sure it will make regular appearances in my life.

Très bon.

Another great food find was the chocolate chip cookie that had been sitting in our fridge since early May. We finally ate it, and just like the hookah, it was well worth the wait. 

Favorite meal x2 + favorite water (which is just tap water in used plastic bottles…)

My glorious bed who held me most of June.

I hung out a lot with Helen, who through most of June was sporting a black eye. No, we didn’t start our own version of Fight Club. She actually got hit in the face (hostage GETHIT) while playing frisbee with a doctor (the doctor is to blame). Hurt by a healer before her first ever headlining gig. The incomparable Katie B came in from NYC!  Back to Pittsburgh for her “”aww, this is where I fell in love with Siri”.   We didn’t have much time to hang out while she was there; however, we designated a full 16 minutes for some non-regimented fun. We actually set a timer because, you know, fun follows a very strict schedule.

Funny gals.

Speaking of non-regimented fun, PRIDE was allll weekend long, so I got to hang with the gays for days. I skipped work on Friday to partake in the festivities (I mean…I was sick…*cough*)

The parade started at Blvd. of the Allies (of course it did).

During the Pittsburgh PRIDE parade, Helen and I got to rep Arcade Comedy by holding the banner.  We were extra Proud.  Our chants consisted of “This is what comedy looks like” and “Laughs for all.” We also quietly incorporated the song “Please don’t stop the music” and changed the lyrics to “Please don’t drop this banner.” Because…you know, holding the banner is harder than it looks, yinz.

We were marching when we learned that there were more people at Pittsburghs Gay Pride parade this year than at our St. Patricks Day parade (Pittsburghs previously biggest parade!) So PROUD!!! We saw fabulous outfits, including a Harry Potter style shirt that says “No one deserves to live in a closet.”  Amen.

Stickers for both utility and for fashion.

Stickers everywhere.

More stickerssssss.

To the parade, I wore my shirt that said “I’m here for Kristin.” I just wanted to clarify, she’s not dead. In fact, she’s alive, well, livin’ a good life. She just couldn’t make it to the parade that day.

Here’s Kristin; nothing to worry about!

Friends!

During the month of June, I also decided to avoid the (totally mythical) gloom and host a couch surfer. We met up with Dominic, a french speaking CouchSurfer from Montreal, at the hippest gay bar in town. He was so great and made made feel like a total bamf because, not to make it about me, but I went to pride and took a straight guy home. Ok, so yeah, he was already going to come sleep at my house anyways but just let me have this, okay?

New friends bonding session.

Rainbows 4 days (and forever).

June was full of me getting even more comfortable with work:
What do you do in a one word answer: Sales
What kind of sales:  Entertainment
What kind of entertainment: Visual but enough about me

“I tell people I do for a living what you do for fun.” – Spencer, bar owner

Friendzzzz!

June was great for hanging with friends, making friends, and being an ally. Besides Dominic, I also hosted a couch surfer from Spain. I took him out on a midnight scooter ride and sat on the porch with Bel, practicing Spanish, and listening to Helen talk about how she hadn’t seen that many fireflies since she was in Thailand.  

Below are two of my favorite pictures ever, taken of Bel and Bam:

Overall, June was a success. And I almost — ALMOST– was able to post in real time. Almost.

Here’s to July!  I mean August!
‘mi

Footnote:   I told you not to…It’s out of V10, ok…?