More about the weekend...

(This post was written on Wednesday...)
I can’t believe I forgot to mention this when I was writing about my adventure to Skully’s last Friday…I was making my way to the restroom when I ran into this young guy with cheetah hair! It was one of those moments when I wish (as I often do) that I had one of those swanky cell phones with a camera so I could share it with you, my dear readers. I’m no prude – but what in the hell possess someone to purposely buzz cut their hair and then dye it bright yellow with little black dots? Maybe I’m getting old, because I even found myself wondering what kind of employer would hire such a person. Wow…am I turning into “the man”?

Speaking of Friday, I also failed to mention this girl I saw there who mesmerized me. She was standing alone; holding a glass of wine in one hand and her jacket in the other. I thought she was perky cute – she had on Vans sneakers and this retro thrift store shirt. She had thick dark curly hair and these cool retro glasses. I told Brian that if I were a guy/lesbian I’d have approached her. She was obviously cool, but not too high maintenance or into herself. I watched a flock of boys circling this skinny blonde wearing a trendy hat and knit shrug and wondered why men always go for the obvious. Poor perky cute girl stood alone the entire night. I watched her…not one person spoke to her all night and she never moved away from the bar where she was standing. I felt bad for her. I know how that feels. Maybe I should have just went over and talked to her, but I didn’t. I hope she knows that she rocked and that blonde chick had nothing on her.

Skully’s is an awesome place to people watch! Two other notable standouts from the evening: there were these two girls getting very drunk at the bar below us (we went upstairs watch the show and sit down). About an hour later they started making out like crazy! It was comical because suddenly there was no one around them…they were all over each other! (Get a room!) That aside, their crazy make-out session isn’t the reason they make my list…it was later in the evening when Wolfgang Parker had taken the stage that makes them blog-worthy! The one girl was clearly trashed out of her mind. She had snuck up to the stage and was just whipping her head back and forth (side to side – not metal thrashing) and her long hair kept smacking everyone in a 3 foot radius in the face! She was writhing around like she was having a convulsion! The photographer for the band kept trying to get around her to take photos of WP, but this chick’s hair kept smacking her in the face! It was actually very distracting to observe all this. The girl’s friend kept trying to calm her down and pull her hair back – but it would only last a few minutes and she was back at it. Crap – if I ever get that drunk please put me in a cab!

Last night went pretty well. We drew in about 30 people to our panel discussion on marriage equality. An additional 10 more people came to see just the movie. The best part was that I didn’t know most of them. A lot of times when you hold an event, you just draw in people who you see at other events…in other words you are preaching to the choir. Another unexpected bonus was that ¼ of our audience were people of color. It is hard to reach that audience and I’m still not sure how we managed it. It was great to see such a diverse crowd. I admit that I had hoped to at least pull in 60 people, so it was disappointing to only get half that number – but I had several factors going against me: it didn’t start until 8PM on a weeknight, it was freaking freezing outside and American Idol premiered last night. Need I say more?

The site was awesome! The Wexner Center staff did a great job of creating an intimate area for our panel in what was basically the lobby of an auditorium. They even put on some nice music while people were mingling and getting their coffee and snacks. The theatre space was great too. It was a fantastic set-up. Everyone who did attend seemed very happy with our efforts and we received some good comments afterward. I even had some people sign up for our e-newsletter…so I have to say Tying the Knot was a success. Yea me!

Book update: I’m officially over Laurel K. Hamilton. Her latest book was crap - then again, so were the previous two! As my dear reader’s know, I begrudgingly began to read her 13th novel Danse Macabre a couple weeks back. I really did try to get into it because I actually like some of the characters in this epic. However, it took 4 chapters just for one scene to finish playing out – and the majority of it was just Anita bitching about all the men she screws (and there are A LOT of them) – so I knew it was just going to be the same crap that I feared it would be. I ended up just skimming the rest of the book.

Here are my helpful hints to reading any LKH novel:
1) Read the jacket cover for what the story is supposed to be about.
2) Watch some porn - it will be better than reading her repetitious descriptions of sex which makes up 90% of the story.
3) Read the last chapter where the author neatly wraps up a mess of storylines without actually having to go to the trouble of writing what the book was actually about because she was too busy writing erotica and calling it fantasy.
4) Throw the book to the floor in disgust and promise to never darken her corner of the library again.

I also have to give a big, thumb down to another book I was reading, “What Do You Do All Day?” by Amy Scheibe. According to the review I read about it, it was supposed to be “Funny and sympathetic! Scheibe writes insightfully about issues, balancing weighty emotional matters with heavy doses of humor and portraying the ups and downs of motherhood and marriage in a way that’s sure to charm readers.” Were we reading the same book? I got to the 4th chapter and gave up on it totally. (Apparently so did the last person who checked it out, because that is where she left her bookmark!)

I could not relate at all to the main character in the book, Jennifer. She sends her 4 year old to a fancy $20,000 a year preschool in NY and then complains she can’t afford a nanny for her other child so she can return to work. Um, maybe if you sent your bratty daughter to a much cheaper school you could! Duh! Oh, and if your husband didn’t take you to fancy restaurants overlooking the NYC skyline, drinking two bottles of champagne between you and receiving a diamond bracelet from Tiffany’s for no real reason – well, maybe you could afford one then too! Argh!! I was totally turned off by the whole “poor little rich girl” theme.

The author also annoyed me at length by dropping trendy NYC retail store names and brands as though everyone in the world knew what she was talking about. When Jennifer’s husband presents her with the diamond bracelet, the author describes the moment with “a long, thin blue box – you know the one.” Sorry, but since I’ve never received a gift from Tiffany’s, I can’t say that I do. Being a huge fan of NYC, I was able to follow her – but it didn’t make it any less annoying. I gave up on her when she included the following abbreviations without any explanation to the reader – SAHM (stay at home mother) and VBAC (vaginal birth after a cesarean). I’ve been nice enough to include what these initials mean because I happen to know what they mean – but not everyone would and for that reason she should have explained at least once.

Maybe I’m becoming a snob regarding the rich…this is the second book I’ve read which turned me off with countless name dropping and better-than-you characters. I guess I have to come clean and say that my present pauper-like existence makes me bristle over such things. I thought I was a better person than that…but I just can’t stand the wealthy who cry over their ‘miserable lives’. Try living on $29 for 10 days and get back to me about that ‘bad day’. I could totally turn my life around with the $20,000 the character in the last book spent on preschool…and she complains about having to take the subway twice a day to pick up her precious cargo and wonders if she should become ‘one of those mothers’ who sends a town car to pick up her kid. Poor, poor thing! Yea, I’m bitter. Sorry.

I’m starting a new book today – Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris. Apparently Harris has written a lot of books, but I had never heard of her. I read a quick review about the book and thought it was something that might be fun to read. It is about a character (Harper Connolly) who is hit by lightening and can now find dead people and reveal how they died. Interesting…I’ll let you know.

Well, I need to wrap this up. I hope to get back to the saga very soon. Please be patient…I have to plan out my SpeakOUT meeting which is this Saturday. I might not get a chance to write until the weekend, but I will!

Be well!