"Why should I worry? Tell me, why should I care?"

Firstly, I apologize for the uber length of this post!

Okay, before I begin I have an anecdote to share. I slept in this morning, went down for breakfast/lunch/afternoon snack and mom comes in while I'm eating and goes "Hurry, you're going to be late!"
"For what?" I ask.
There's this pause. "I don't know, don't you have something to do today?"
"No..."
"Well, I know I don't. I know your father doesn't. Do you mean nobody's doing anything today?"
This is such a bizarre event that mom is like...I thought she was going to meltdown on me for a minute. And that pretty much sums up my family.

Anyways, this weekend started off special aside from Pride. Our cousins from the Carolinas came for a visit! We haven't seen them since our road trip down to them a few years back -- sophomore year of high school, I think. That's a Monday Memory (when I get back to doing those) for another time. Probably three or four Monday Memories actually.
But anyways, we didn't get see my favorite cousin, Ed, that trip because he's been in the Coast Guard for the past several years (we think it's been seven years, and we realized we hadn't seen him in 10 years). Ed's been my favorite cousin since the incident with the giant turtle, which is also a Monday Memory I'll have to share. Anyways, Ed is one of my heroes, for sure. We watched a video of a rescue he did this weekend that kind of cemented that feeling -- Ed did basically all the work. Here, watch this:
It's not as well-done as the video we saw but it's the same rescue. Ed is the one standing up in the rescue boat, doing *everything*.
So we spent Friday with the cousins, catching up on years that we've missed.

Saturday was Pride RI (or, the much-catchier name for it is Providence Pride, because it alliterates). It was in a new, smaller location which wasn't too much of a problem despite the fact that this was probably the biggest turnout Providence Pride has ever had. The fiascos going on with NYC Pride probably contributed to that.
I hung out with Joey, his ex-boyfriend Felix, and his friend Jesse all day because they were the first people I knew that I ran into. I saw a lot of people I knew though -- some of the Crockett Clan (who I went to high school with), Joey and Matt (two of Mirabar's shotboys), Justin, Preston, Bruno and Kenny (two of the strippers from XL and who were caught on film paying more attention to their adorable puppy than to me :-P), DJ (who I think recently quit from XL), Jason....I don't really know why I'm listing all these people. :-P

Anywho, Grace and Ryan and his friends Sam and Mike met up with us part way through and we kept adjourning to Joey's hotel room (to drink). Mike is pretty much awesome, and Sam is pretty fabulous too. I feel super bad because I have Mike's number so we could hang out next time he was in town, but I seem to have lost it. I'm dumb like that sometimes. Anywho...

So we watched some of the acts that were on the main stage...acts that included Frenchie Davis, Peppermint Gummybear, Colton Ford (who is STILL hot!!), and more! I was looking forward to Sean van der Wilt but, alas, he was cut from the lineup do to timing issues...and I'm sure he wasn't happy about it, because the crowd was amazing!
Colton Ford was pretty good, though at first he had the mic too close to his mouth.

We actually missed the parade because we went to get dinner and it took longer to find a place that didn't have a ridiculous line (hour 45 minute wait??? That was the shortest!) and then to eat, so we missed the parade. That was sad.
Then we went to Mirabar. And we stayed at Mirabar because....and this is said, I was gonna have to pay again in order to get in a second time. So...there was no trip to XL, there was no Roman Heart.
I'm not complaining though. Mirabar was amazing -- of course, the numerous other parties at the other clubs had to be just as good! Some of the headliners from the festival were performing there, including the fabulous Alyson whose performance really was great and you could tell she was having a good time, and Jenna Drey and others, all of whom were great! Jenna Drey is frequently on the CD for A&F so it was exciting but simultaneously nauseating just because I hear the songs so often. :-P
I also saw basically everyone at Mirabar.

Really it was two parties, too. The block party outside and the party inside, and everyone was going in and out but it was crowded! Fun though.
Part way through the night Brendan and Cody called me to discuss things about my upcoming birthday extravaganza, where they were coming up to party with me. There was gay drama, which would continue until the next day and lead to the party's cancellation. That's all I'm gonna say on that one, but it contributed to a funk I found myself in after Pride.
The other things that contributed? There was also drama between Joey and I, which I won't get into too much but it ended in, basically, him making a whole bunch of "if we're gonna work, this is what you need to do" demands -- not like to make up for anything I did because he definitely was the one who'd screwed up, but somehow it turned around to I was the one who needed to change for him. And I'm pretty sure I'm cool with A) that little about-face in who's the screw up, or B) the fact that he wants me to change for him before we've even been on a second date. Cause, apparently I'm not good enough as-is?
Then I ran into Jonathon, who got pretty shitfaced, so I helped him get to his car at the end of the night. On the way, we stopped by Energy, which was still open. And who to my wondering eyes should appear? Kyle and Dom -- who had both moved to Florida and I hadn't seen since January!! So that was exciting.
After that, as we went to my car so I could give Jon and "his driver" a ride to their car, he decided (because he's an honest drunk) to regale me with all the reasons we can't date. Or even try to date. Or in fact, do anything more than what we have been doing, which is hang out like friends and then make out just enough to get us (or at least me) riled up and then leave before anything happens.
So I was in a serious funk. Or a "gunk" as they would say on Kyle XY. ("He's in a gunk." "What's that?" "A guy funk." "So what do they call a girl funk?" "Redundant.")

Monday I went out to get a job at Dark Lady. Except, in my funk, I couldn't bring myself to ask without moral support. So I ended up at Energy...which added to my funk. Two guys I had previously liked were there, neither one into me and one of them there with someone else. Ordinarily this wouldn't bother me at all, but, hey, funk!
So when I was introduced to my friend Josh's friend Neil, who was gorgeous and flirty, well...it helped a lot. So, I'm starting to come out of the funk now.

Tuesday was full of little things: new manager at A&F who seems pretty nice, movie night at Justin's, Jonathon called me again (and again today, I don't think he remembers what he said), and, oh, I think I blew the Italian oral exam out of the water.
That's right, this is my last week of class!!

Oh, and for people wondering what's going on with Club XS these days...my friend Jenny just put up this video of their latest amateur drag contest! Cody tells me my ex-boyfriend has been showing up to participate in them lately. You'd think he'd have gotten the hint: you've been doing drag for years and never gotten better than runner-up....they're trying to tell you something.

NOTE: There will be more pictures, I just have to ask my friends if they mind showing up on my blog is all.