Tag: Fun

Vancouver Pride 2010: Liberate!

But no, there was no rain, and though the sun did come out in the afternoon, it never got terribly hot. Which was a good thing, because I had to move my ass for over two hours, either walking, dancing or volleying.

The day started out a little cool and overcast, and some were afraid it would rain (especially since it actually had rained for a little bit on Saturday). That would have been a first for me. The only rainy Vancouver Pride Day I remember was in ’96, and I wasn’t even in town for that. I’d moved to Vancouver in early August ’96, and remember seeing pictures of the parade in Xtra! West.

But no, there was no rain, and though the sun did come out in the afternoon, it never got terribly hot. Which was a good thing, because I had to move my ass for over two hours, either walking, dancing or volleying. I was with the VGVA group again this year; our setup didn’t change much, except for the lack of a net. That turned out to be a good thing, since it took up less space (an issue on crowded Robson Street), and we didn’t have to assign 2 people to hold it up. But the crowd-pleasers remained: dancers, volleyballs flying back and forth, and of course those two giant balls. They were too awkward to pass, so we just rolled them around and into the crowds. Kids love that, they push it back towards us, it gets them involved. It’s win-win!

A little after we turned on Denman, Symone joined us for a bit to toss balls around. I tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a six-foot drag queen, dressed so fine, volleying with perfect form—she used to play in VGVA, dontchaknow! Just not in drag.

All those hours of listening to ABBA’s greatest hits finally paid off!

And is it just me, or are there a lot more straight people in the parade lately? Besides the usual sponsors and politicians, I mean. I’m thinking especially of CFI Vancouver and the BC Humanists, most (all?) of whom had never been in a Pride parade. And maybe it’s because I’ve got my ear to the twitterverse more, but it seems to me they’re talking about Pride not just in terms of a fabulous party, but also in terms of human rights. I approve of this.

After the parade, I took a few hours to rest and recuperate, then I was off to the Big Gay Sing. Is there anything gayer than a couple hundred men singing along to an ABBA medley, Over The Rainbow or I Will Survive? I don’t think so! I had so much fun, and the aforementioned couple of hundred singers around disguised how totally off-key I was. And I’m glad that all those hours of listening to ABBA’s greatest hits finally paid off!

Drag Queen

Priape Dancers

Clayton showing off our banner

Our Dancers

Cirque Du Soleil

Vancouver School Board

WorkSafeBC

Pretty!

It’s not easy being a girl

Well, that was kind of fun. I don’t think I’m doing it again in a million years, but still. Fun.

So last night my volleyball league had our end-of-year party at Celebrities. Since the party is also our only fundraising event for the year, we wanted to bring in a big crowd. Something we’d never done before. The answer? The board would put on a drag show. After a bit of discussion we settled on George Michael’s “Too Funky” for music; the only female board member would be dressed as George, and the rest of us would walk around and pose like the models in the video. There was a bit more to the choreography, but that’s about it. Nothing too fancy.

Well, that was kind of fun. I don’t think I’m doing it again in a million years, but still. Fun.

So last night my volleyball league had our end-of-year party at Celebrities. Since the party is also our only fundraising event for the year, we wanted to do something we’d never done before, and bring in a big crowd. The answer? The board would put on a drag show. After a bit of discussion we settled on George Michael’s “Too Funky” for music; the only female board member would be dressed as George, and the rest of us would walk around and pose like the models in the video. There was a bit more to the choreography, but that’s about it. Nothing too fancy.

I wasn’t really keen on doing it, since I’d never done drag before, never felt comfortable performing in front of an audience, and frankly was afraid of looking like a hot mess. Of course, I realised I was totally going to look like a hot mess, but I had to just go with it and have fun, and it would all be over in a few minutes.

Self-consciousness aside, my biggest worry was whether I’d even be able to walk in heels. That part wasn’t so bad, though, since the shoes I ended up using (borrowed from a friend, along with my entire outfit) had fairly modest 2-inch heels. As long as I remembered to step with the toes first, I could get from point A to point B pretty efficiently, though not that gracefully.

And I learned something else, too: being a woman takes a lot of work! Hair, makeup, dresses, bras, shaving various bits as necessary, and the aforementioned shoes. But that’s the price you pay for being beautiful, I guess. Not that I really felt that beautiful, once the initial thrill wore off; with all due respect to my makeup artists (no, seriously), my face in makeup just looked weird, like some alternate-universe Joker-ised version of myself. That’s just me, though. The feedback I got from my performance ranged from “Good job, you were great!” to “scary but nice” to “I’m gonna need therapy.” So… on average, I did okay? Meh, I don’t really care. I did it once, kind of enjoyed it, we raised money, and now it’ll make a good story.

Pi Day Weekend

It’s Sunday night, the end of a crazy weekend. Two whole days of fun, productivity, and far too little sleep. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

It’s Sunday night, the end of a crazy weekend. Two whole days of fun, productivity, and far too little sleep. But I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.

Spring Bling was so much fun! And so exhausting! My team was up against mostly competitive players, but we held our own pretty well and came this close to winning the bronze. Seriously, we lost 22 to 25, which is pretty damn good considering we hadn’t played together as a team in ages. Then, after a quick shower, it was time for all-you-can-eat sushi.

Some of us had serious discussions over dinner, besides complimenting each on games well played. The issue was, how do we get more recreational players involved in the tournament? Looking back at the tournament’s history, we’ve only had a separate C division half the time—and maybe I shouldn’t even count last year, where all of two C teams were registered. The consensus was that we should advertise it much further ahead of time, and also sell it as a fun challenge to meet people, test your skills, and see how the big boys* play play.

(* And a few token girls. But mostly boys)

For some reason, it took me a long time to get to sleep. Maybe I was still wound up, I don’t know. But sleep I did, eventually, and I needed it because today was the second and last session of my all-day AJAX workshop at BCIT. It was short periods of lecturing, interspersed with quizzes and practical labs. Last week we went over Javascript, which I’m already familiar with though I did learn a few useful tips. Today we dived into the AJAX API itself. It looks like a lot more students had trouble keeping up, even with the instructor being very generous and giving us a lot of time for labs and even allowing us to pair up.

Which is not a bad thing, really. He said that you learn more by collaborating, and it’s true. Besides, BCIT is supposed to prepare you for the real world and in the real world you’d rarely be all on your own; there’d usually be coworkers to pick the brains of or, failing that, online forums and user groups.

It’s late Sunday night now, almost midnight, and I’m finishing my job search homework for tomorrow. I’ve got homework and a take-home exam for the AJAX workshop, but that’s not due for a week. And I’m not worried. I was already familiar with the basic ideas and, if I do say so myself, I picked up the finer points very quickly. The server-side scripting aspect holds no terrors for me.

Happy Pi Day!

We are the champions!

Well, when I say “we,” I don’t include me personally. My team ended up second-to-last place in the seeding, and then were eliminated right away on the second day.

Still, I had a great time at the Queen Vicki tournament this weekend. I hadn’t participated in a NAGVA tournament in ages! In fact, before Spring Bling earlier this year, I don’t think I’d been in any volleyball tournament in five years. Well, gotta make up for lost time.

And in my last entry, I mentioned that was intimidated about reffing. Fortunately, that turned out pretty well in the end. I reffed two matches and was going to ref a third, but the teams requested a more experienced ref. I didn’t take it personally, and in fact was quite relieved. It’s a lot of pressure, especially with the couple of really competitive bitches I had to deal with. I’m pretty familiar with the rules, but I was visibly nervous, and they could smell blood.

That’s okay, though. Confidence will come with experience. And the Head Official gave me a passing grade, which means I’m now certified to up-ref in any NAGVA tournament for the next two years.

Jogging on the Seawall

For the last week, I’ve been taking advantage of the nice weather to get some more exercise done. On Tuesday I decided to get off the SkyTrain at Science World station and use my own two feet to get the rest of the way home. I’d done that just once before, taking a direct route through Yaletown.

Wow. This is what Bike To Work Week must feel like.

For the last week, I’ve been taking advantage of the nice weather to get some more exercise done. On Tuesday I decided to get off the SkyTrain at Science World station and use my own two feet to get the rest of the way home. I’d done that just once before, taking a direct route through Yaletown. This time I stayed on the Seawall, taking in the nice view of False Creek, the bridges, the parks, and all the pretty yuppies out for their daily constitutional.

Cambie Street Bridge

For extra fun, I also decided to jog as much as I could. I’d been getting in some cardio on the Burrard Bridge stairs a couple of times a week for the last few weeks, but this was a bit more of a challenge.

Yaletown Condos

Then I did it again on Wednesday. And Thursday. And Friday. Hell, I may do it every day as long as the weather holds. As exhausting and sweaty as this was, I had a hell of a time. And hey, it’s never too late to get that bikini body, right?

This actually works out better for me because whenever I get home, I tend to laze around for a bit and have to psych myself to work out sometimes. This way, it’s easier. I’ve got no choice but to go home.

Granville Street Bridge

I am full of hot air

…literally. Or I was until Sunday night.

…literally. Or I was until Sunday night.

See, while playing volleyball on Sunday afternoon, I inadvertently demonstrated a basic principle of Physics: gases will expand when heated. Here’s how I set up the experiment: a week before, my arms got pretty sunburned because I forgot to put sunscreen on them. By last weekend they were healing, and ready to peel. This time I made sure to put on sunscreen but pretty soon I noticed tons of little blisters on the burned areas. It actually looked pretty cool, a microscopic landscape of itty-bitty bubbly hills and mountain ranges. My theory is that tiny air pockets, trapped under the loosening skin and sunscreen, just started expanding. These blisters didn’t hurt, and disappeared soon after I got out of the sun leaving only whiter spots of dead skin.

And now my arms are peeling with a vengeance. I should probably stop picking at it, but I love the barely audible crinkly sound peeling skin makes when I pull it off. It’s… soothing.

Yeah, I think I need help.

Dude, Where’s My Flying Car?

Now here’s an awesome blog I just discovered: Paleo-Future, a look at how past generations saw the future (which is often our present). Domed, weather-controlled cities! Flying cars! Segways!

Now here’s an awesome blog I just discovered: Paleo-Future, a look at how past generations saw the future (which is often our present). Domed, weather-controlled cities! Flying cars! Segways! (seriously) Synthetic food! Robotic servants! (They better have those Three Laws, though…)

As one commenter said about such futurology: “it describes the present, with tailfins.” Heh.