Late Late Late Mermaid Parade

Thanks to MattHillArt for the picture

Last year was the first time I ever made it to the Mermaid Parade. (I know, I know, I grew up in NYC and I'd never been to the Mermaid Parade before??) And we got there just a little too late, and it was a little too crowded, and it was hard to see. So my group and I gave up and spent the rest of the day on the boardwalk and rides. I decided this year, like I did with the Halloween Parade, that if I really wanted to see anything I had to be in it.

Luckily for me, a family friend is in charge of the East Village Sea Monster Marching Band, which has been a part of the Mermaid Parade for the last five years. He's been inviting me for years, but for the first time I said yes.

I was told that we were only allowed to wear blue and purple, and so I stuck to that. I also knew it was going to rain, so on the suggestion of my friend Gem, I became a Jellyfish Princess rather than some sort of mermaid.

Thanks to ronaldhennessy for the photo.
(The Streamers make me a jellyish)

Unfortunately for me, the rest of our group did not stick to the same color guidelines. We had a red mermaid, a green mermaid, a "freak" wearing only black sweatshorts, and a couple of randoms who decided to join us at the last minute.

Our "freak" Thanks to masi1028 for the photo.
Yes, I know my bra is showing. Shut it.

We were a motley crew to say the least. But regardless of the fact that the actual musical part of our band only knew three songs, and that we had absolutely no skill when it came to walking as a group, I had a wonderful time.

Weather permitting, I will do it all again next year.

Oh, and of course I took photo booth pictures.

And here is a link to another blog that mentioned The East Village Sea Monster Marching Band.

Update: Yes, if anyone was wondering - YES. I did spend hours going through Flickr. Shut up.

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Oh Hai Guys

Remember how I dyed my hair black?

I really did!

Also - on Friday night I rode on the front of the Cyclone because I am BETTER THAN YOU.

Wooooooooooo! ♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves

Another weekend of madness

My weekend had all the elements of a good soap opera. There were reconciliations, cutting of ties, unexpected occurrences, surprise guests, and various other things that I, of course, can not blog about. (I'm a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in an AWESOME rack.)

Actually, a short bit about the cutting of ties, mostly because I want to make very clear that I had nothing to do with it. I have this thing about me where I like to stay in touch with my ex boyfriends. Mostly because, as I figure it, if someone meant a lot to you they should continue to mean a lot to you, even if you aren't sleeping together anymore. (Unless they, I don't know, raped your puppy or something.) Apparently not everyone feels this way, which I understand. Sort of. I just don't like losing touch with people, especially people who I thought were awesome enough to spend a ridiculous amount of time on. So yeah...end of rant.

Anywaaaaaaaaaaaay...

The weekend, she was insane. On Thursday and Friday I had Jury Duty which was completely uneventful because everyone was settling out of court so as not to be stuck in the city over Fourth of July Weekend. Which is, well, shitty. On Friday night it was time for Fireworks at Coney Island! MY FAVORITE THING OF ALL! Except, well, I got to Coney Island at 7pm and nobody else got there until 9pm. So I took some photobooth pictures by myself...because I'm a nerd. Then, FINALLY, people showed up and the fireworks started and, as usual, they were effing amazing. Seriously, if you happen to be in NYC on a Friday and have not made it down there for these, please please please make the effort. For starters, Coney Island is not nearly as far away as it's made out to be. Seriously. And secondly - beer + fireworks + RIDES + FIREWORKS + photobooths + Fireworks + More beer and Chilidogs = slightly different and more fun than your normal Friday Night plans.

Plus, you get lovely souvenirs like these:

(I'm just happy I managed to keep my eyes open on both rides. And also - didn't ride on the back of the cyclone this time...because, holy SHIT. Never again)

On Saturday I had brunch, and went to the MoMA where I saw a really cool exhibit by Olafur Eliasson, the guy who put a waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge. You walked into the exhibit via a hallway lined with yellow lights that made everything look like it was in black and white. Which was slightly eerie because you were suddenly stuck in an old movie. (I was told about the exhibit by the woman from Jury Duty who I had lunch with on Friday. This same woman, after hearing about my mother, walked up to her on the street today and said, "Are you related to Sarah?" No joke. Apparently my mother and I do look alike, though I still think I look like my father.) There was a circular room that changed color and made everyone in it change color which was pretty cool, and there was also a room with falling water and strobe lights that looked like glitter. It was worth the trip, but unfortunately is closing tomorrow, so unless you've got the day free you won't see it.

From the museum I endured torrential downpours and ended up at a Korean BBQ restaurant for a party that was half celebrating a birthday and half sending off a friend of mine who decided to leave NY before he was deported. It. Was. Ridiculous. We ate an amazing amount of food including pork belly, which is seriously one of the best things ever. This is because it is essentially bacon and I will eat anything involving bacon. (A coworker of mine once remarked that he would probably eat a turd if it was covered in bacon. Because, dude. BACON!) From there we walked down to the east village where we all drank what was probably far too much and then a small group of us ended up on the roof of the friend who moved today to watch the sunrise. And also to eat sandwiches and drink absolutely terrible blueberry beer. I got home far, far too late.

Today was Gay Pride Day which involved fruitlessly looking for a street fair with X-tina (my best friend and furure maid of honor), and heading to the Tigerlily's for a bit before coming back downtown for more fireworks. Last year the Pride fireworks were terrible and lasted approximately three minutes before pooting out quietly, so this year they made up for it by having a barge slowly moving downt the Hudson River shooting off a spectacular show for over half an hour. It ruled.

And now, I think it's bedtime. I haven't gotten nearly enough sleep and my head is relatively jumbled from this weekend's events. I can has snow day?

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I'm freezing my tits off!

Seriously...it is SO COLD IN MY OFFICE and my dumb-ass doesn't have a cardigan (or an effing winter coat) with me. Dammit.

Hey, look up there! A new banner. Hooray!

This weekend I did that thing where I try to do everything and now I feel gross. (I'm also pretty sure I smell pretty gross right now. I showered this morning, but then forgot deodorant...oops.)

On Friday night there was a going away party for a friend of mine who has decided that because he doesn't want to be deported, he's going to leave the states before they can kick him out. The attendees were almost entirely people I hung out with in high school. (Not people I went to high school with, because most of the people from my high school were exceptionally lame. This group of dudes were the people I chose to hang out with in high school.) I was really nervous about going to this party because it had a really good chance of becoming a drama fueled nightmare.

A couple of ex-couples + a couple of crushes x a lot of booze = drama waiting to happen.

But then it didn't. And the night ended up being really really fun and I didn't throw up or shake violently and it was awesome. Some people threw up, but it had nothing to do with nerves and a whole lot to do with tequila. I also managed to close a door on my foot which caused a hole in my ankle which is now oozy and gross. It hurts like hell. So that's fun.

I just sneezed all over my hand. Ew.

Saturday I went to the Mermaid Parade which I had never been to before despite spending most of my life in New York City. It was...well, mostly it was hard to see. We got there too late to get a good spot because I really enjoy sleeping. So we wandered around and ate burgers, and Nathan's, and corn-dogs and shish-ke-bob (or shish-KA-bab...or Shishkibeb...depending on the place on the boardwalk to went to...there is also a bar called Cha Cha's with "Entertainment For The Hole Family!" They aren't very big on spell check, apparently.) and drank beers. After all that my friend Dan and I went on the Log Flume, The Scrambler and The Cyclone. As a girl who does not do roller coasters, I have been on the Cyclone twice now. Here's last year:
Don't I look like I'm having an awesome time? Or pooping? Or about to burst into tears? Weirdly enough, right after this photo was taken I started having a good time and actually enjoying the ride instead of wanting it to be over and wanting to get out now now now. I think this was because, as you'll notice, we were right in the front of the car. And the ride was relatively smooth. This time, however, my friend Dan and I decided to ride about three cars from the back and OH MY GOD I thought I was going to DIE. I swear we jumped the tracks at one point and Dan almost FLEW OUT OF HIS SEAT. Was terrible and terrifying and I am never riding on the damn back again. The front...maybe, but certainly not the back.

Look at me, Ma! I want to ride roller coasters! (I think my mother just had a small heart attack. She was always so proud of me for inheriting her love of the merry-go-round.)

And then Sunday was another loverly day at the Tigerlily's where we ate an amazing roast pork shoulder and risotto which I loved which was odd because I don't LIKE risotto. So yeah, if Tigerlily and The Boss invite you over for dinner? Don't ask questions, just go. ♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves

I Love The Museum

This is actually an entry I wrote yesterday, but in the middle of posting my internet connection went ::kablooey::, so here it is now instead. Enjoy.

I love the Brooklyn Museum. It was there that I saw Sensation, saw a huge exhibition of Ron Mueck's work, studied African and Eastern Art in high school, doodled boys names in my notebooks, got cursed to have cramps by an crazy old lady, and had my high school graduation. I have spent so many hours at that place and I still love it love it love it. It changes and they do renovations and bring in new works and I get lost lost lost. (I love getting lost in museums, it's part of the reason I insist on going back to the Met on a semi-regular basis.)

Today Seth, his friend Josh and I all went to the Brooklyn Museum to see the photographs of Coney Island they have up through April 6th and I have to say I was a little disappointed. I think of Coney Island as this sort of magical iconic place, (they have rides and games and lights and fireworks every Friday night!) but the exhibit was tucked away in the corner of a back room. At the Brooklyn Museum! On top of that the exhibit was tiny, only about 60 small shots. The pictures were great, and I advise everyone to go check them out, but don't go expecting a huge show. You will be bummed. I know I was.

We also saw a piece that I've seen before (though I can't for the life of me remember where) called "The Dinner Party" by Judy Chicago. It's a huge form feminist piece that is pretty interesting once you get past the "OH MY GOD THIS ENTIRE ROOM IS FULL OF VAGINAS" thing. There is a lot that is reminiscent of Georgia O'Keefe, who I think sucks, but all in all it's great. In a room adjacent to the table there is a video playing that explains the process of it's creation. The whole thing took a number of years and ended up including collaborations with hundreds of other people including Chicago herself. Again, go check it out if you have a chance to pop down to Brooklyn.

Basically, the whole point of this post is that I love the Brooklyn Museum. I did an internship there in my junior year of high school teaching 6th graders about Egyptian Art (they have an AMAZING Egyptian collection) and in my senior year of high school I participated in the Student Guide Program. Going there today made me realize that, "Hey. I'm still a student. I can totally do this again!" So I'm going to. Every Saturday morning come September I will be down at the Brooklyn Museum wandering around, talking about art and enjoying myself. I can't wait! Oh, and if nothing has changed in the last six years or so, this program also means the following things:

1) I get show catalog's.

2) I get into special exhibitions for free.

3) I get a Brooklyn Museum ID.

Do you know what a Brooklyn Museum ID entitles you to? Getting in to any of the museums in the city for free, usually with a guest (or FOUR!) as well.

Oh yes...this is something I need back in my life.

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