Funny how a bunch of good looking men can improve your mood. The crowd really surprised me because not only did I run into people I haven't seen in 10+ years but all of my divergent social groups knew each other. We all spent a lot of time saying, "Wait, you know each other?? How do you guys know each other?"

When I couldn't figure out what to wear, I went with a bright pink bra, soft pink nightie (as a shirt), pink eyeshadow, and big bright pink eyelashes - which did not flatter me but got a lot of attention.

Justin Rudd (parade Grand Marshall) & his partner, Ralph

Silly picture of Ralph

Me and my main "husband", John

Tim "So Good" Sulger and Willie

"Benjamin Thrasher" (may not be his real name)

??, "Salmon", and Ishmael

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Must be start of my social season. Current plans...

May

• Sat 3 - Miss Kitty's monthly party
• Sun 4 - Pick up Julie at airport
• Sat 10 - Master's Degree graduation party for Riley (of the FGNs)
• Sun 11 - 2 hr private pole class
  
• Fri 16 - LB Pride Pre-Party I realized "party on the rooftop" just means the 2nd floor open balcony, which is lame
  
• Sun 18 - LB Pride Disco Night / Concert: Sheena Easton and KC & the Sunshine Band
• Fri 30 - Concert: Flight of the Conchords @ the Orpheum

• Tue 24 (or so) - Lucha VaVoom (pending - haven't purchase tix yet)
• Note to SF-ers: Lucha VaVoom will take place at The Fillmore on June 29 (maybe I'll go to that one!)
  

• Fri 11 - Concert: YAZ (aka: Yazoo, aka: Vince Clarke & Alison Moyet) reunion @ the Orpheum
• Sun 13 - Pole Star Competition @ the Music Box (spectator only)
• Tue 22 - Concert: Stray Cats @ Pacific Amph (only US appearance in 2008)

Yaz_Club_69_-_Situation_99_Millenium_Mix-DJ008

Yaz, Club 69

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Long Beach Gay Pride
May 17 & 18 - Rainbow Harbor (aka: Shoreline Drive)

Festival admission usually runs around $25/day. You can drink anywhere within the festival grounds (aka: No "beer gardens" (San Diego)!!). Weather is usually cool and the event takes place next to the water on a grassy hillside (very little hot asphalt (Los Angeles & SF).

Headline entertainers (dates & times not yet listed):

• Deborah Cox (I could swear she had a big club hit or two but I'm seeing no indication of that on her website)
• Ivy Queen (I have had no idea who that is - apparently a latina singer)
• Kat De Luna (I have hadno idea who that is either but she's apparently the biggest deal - which means she'll be the closing act on Sun Sat night - apparently an even bigger latina singer - who records in both english & spanish)

• The Bangles (nothing on their website about appearing)
  
• Sheena Easton (her website says she's performing on the 18th)
  
• KC & the Sunshine Band (website says they're performing on the 18th)

KC & The Sunshine Band - Get down tonight

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The "island" is actually an oil drilling site. It lights up and has waterfalls at night. There were about 15 private boats anchored around it (oddly popular spot to stop during the day). Container ships, lined up and heading to the port of LA, on the horizon. Too much ocean fog to see Catalina.

View of Pacific Ocean & oil "island" from Ocean Bluff Park

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Me - in the 2007 Belmont Shore Xmas Parade

Walking behind/with Grand Marshall, Justin Rudd - representing HauteDogs.org.

Ralph told me that he got footage of me dancing to the drum corps. That better make it into the video footage!!

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The Belmont Shore Christmas Parade* is a mildly cheesy, but very cute, little community affair that I LOVE. Far superior to the sad & somewhat embarrassing debacle put on in my neighborhood (thankfully, I miss that one this year), the Daisy Lane Parade. Though a close tie with the Naples Boat Parade (which now turns out to be my 4th event occurring on the night of Dec 15).

Will try to moblog from the parade.

*remind me to tell the story of the year I was on camera, broadcast to all of Long Beach (at least 3 times a day) without knowing it.

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And I give it a C. Maybe a C-.

The holiday concert by "Men Alive Chorus" (aka: gay men's chorus of Orange County) was... uhhhmm... yeeeah {said ala Office Space}.

They sang okay - not great but also not bad. Definitely not anything I'd rave about. For me, their production left a LOT to be desired. I felt like I was watching an episode of The Little Rascals, when they get that "let's put on a show" wild hair and do a production in the barn. Parts were good(-ish). Parts probably seemed good on paper, or in rehearsal, but were painful with a live audience. Basically, I was expecting something more polished & professional... and couldn't seem to snap out of that expectation in order to just go with the flow of it being amateurish. As a result, I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out if the person in the middle of the chorus was a woman (I'm pretty sure it was - they're non-discriminatory that way - but I really couldn't tell).

It was also another instance of it being TOO FUCKING COLD IN HERE for me to enjoy ANYTHING.

THANK GAWD I got my tix through GoldStar, for less than 1/2 price. I thought it was a bit of a ripoff at $20; I'd have been PISSED if I paid full price ($45). Lesson learned.

The South Coast Chorale (aka: Gay & Lesbian Chorus of Long Beach) is doing a holiday show in 2 weeks. Maybe I'll give them a try. I'm likely to know some of the singers (due to brunch bunch) and, even if not, now know to have realistic expectations. But I know at least 1 thing, and maybe 2, is already on my calendar for that night - so I need to find out what's already booked - and how that compares to the $35 ticket charge for the SCC.

Highlight of the night: It was still raining (18 hours of rain - I can't believe it!!) and the UCI campus had lots of good puddles on the path back to the parking structure. By the time I got to the elevator, thanks to my zealous puddle stomping efforts, I was soaked from socks to knees. TOTALLY worth it!!

2nd Highlight of the night: Got a email that Justin is looking for some extra volunteers, without dogs, to march in the parade with him. 2 people to carry his Grand Marshall banner and about 6 more to hand out candy & HauteDogs info cards (the parade's theme is "Dog Days of Christmas"). I might be too late but, if not, I might be in a holiday parade (my favorite holiday parade - it's tiny but fun) Saturday night!!

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I understand most of the evacs are in San Diego county area (the entire city of Ramona). Here's a map of my office (green) versus the Santiago Canyon fire in the Whiting Ranch Wilderness area in Orange County (red). 3.8 miles. See all those little roads in the wilderness area? That's where a LOT of my coworkers live. The office evacuation today was due to a combo of people leaving work to do voluntary evac of their homes - and the smoke being so bad that they were concerned about it affecting health of people in the office. As of this afternoon, they're saying this fire started in 3 spots at once - around 6pm yesterday - so they know it was intentionally set.

Fire Map - Orange County

Because I knew it was going to be hot while I was gone, I left all the back windows open for the cats - and now everything is dusted in ash. I knew there was a lot in my bathroom - all over the counter that's next to the window - but then I felt it all over the kitchen floor, and later realized the "odd stuff" all over my bed is also ash. It smells like someone is smoking cigars... everywhere.

I can't imagine how bad it is near the fires. I never thought I'd be so glad to live in the ghetto.

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And these are some of the conservation rules that just went into full effect (they were previously "encouraged" but not enforced). I've bolded the one's most difficult for me. This is what happens when you live in an overly-developed naturally-arid, environment:

Water Use Prohibitions in the City of Long Beach, as adopted by the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners, and as incorporated, by reference, in the City of Long Beach Municipal Code:

(1) Serving drinking water to any customer in a restaurant or other public place where food is served, sold, or offered for sale unless expressly requested by the customer. The Department shall make "table tents" alerting customers to this restriction available to restaurants and these types of other public places;

(3) Washing driveways, sidewalks, parking areas, patios or other outdoor cemented areas with a garden hose, unless it is attached to a pressurized water broom;

(4) Irrigating landscape with potable water any day other than Monday, Thursday, or Saturday, except for very short periods of time for the expressed purpose of adjusting or repairing the irrigation system; [note: The overall newsletter only said "irrigating more than 3 days a week. I didn't learn there were specific days till I linked to the attachment. I only water once or twice a week - and only my potted plants in the backyard [quit watering the front lawn last fall] but still...]

(5) Irrigating landscape with potable water between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.; [I get up around 10/11am, leave for work around 12:30pm and get home around 11p. So now I'll be doing my watering in the middle of the night or Sat evenings] 

 (6) Irrigating landscape with potable water using stream rotator- type or gear-driven sprinklers for more than fifteen (15) minutes per watering day per station, or for more than ten (10) minutes per watering day per station for all other types of sprinklers. Exempt from these landscape irrigation restrictions are irrigation systems using very low-flow drip- type irrigation when no emitter produces more than two (2) gallons of water per hour;

(10) Watering or irrigating lawns, turf, or landscape areas beyond saturation causing significant runoff, as determined by the Long Beach Water Department (Department);

(11) Operating a fountain or other water feature that does not re- circulate the water;

(12) Washing a vehicle with a hose when the hose does not have a water shut-off nozzle or device attached to it or allowing a hose to fun continuously while washing a vehicle;

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